MUMBAI: The rupee fell on Thursday, pressured by weaker Asian shares and the dollar's rebound against major currencies.
By 10:29 am (0459 GMT) the partially convertible rupee was at 48.1650/1700 per dollar, weaker than Wednesday's close of 47.98/48.00.
The rupee fell to a low of 48.19 in early deals. "There is a slight depreciation because shares are down on the back of weaker global markets and also to some extent due to the dollar's strength globally," said Sanjay Arya, deputy general manager, treasury at state-run Bank of Maharashtra.
Arya expected the rupee to trade in a range of 48.10-48.30 during the day.
Indian shares fell more than 1 per cent in opening deals on Thursday, following the weaker lead of Asian markets.
The MSCI's measure of Asian markets excluding Japan was down 1.47 per cent.
The dollar index, which measures the dollar's value against a basket of six major currencies, was up 0.38 per cent at 76.335.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward rupee contracts were quoting at 48.15/25.
Arya expects the setback for the rupee to be short lived and said it may climb to 47-47.25 by December, helped by further inflows as risk appetite may return.
