* Finance minister's statements on Tues boost sentiment
* Stocks to be watched for cues on fund flows (Updates to mid-morning)
MUMBAI, Nov 4 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee rose on Wednesday following gains in regional units and tracking a higher start in the local sharemarket, which could help bring in more foreign funds.
At 9:57 a.m. (0427 GMT), the partially convertible rupee INR=IN was at 47.15/16 per dollar, 0.5 percent stronger than its previous close of 47.40/41.
"Asian markets have shown some positive trend especially the SGX-Nifty. Yesterday's finance minister's speech has also acted in favour of the rupee," said V. Kumar, chief foreign exchange trader at State Bank of Travancore.
The government will maintain its fiscal stimulus due to uncertainty arising from a poor monsoon and the global outlook, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Tuesday, as data showed the summer crop could post a bigger-than-expected fall. [ID:nL3634290]
Shares .BSESN rose more than 1.3 percent early on the finance minister's comments, but gains could be limited after the market fell to its lowest close in two months in the previous session. [.BO]
Foreigners have bought more than $14 billion of local equities so far this year, after being sellers of more than $13 billion in 2008.
The dollar steadied below a one-month high on a basket of currencies as investors awaited a Fed statement later on Wednesday, while the Australian dollar eased after data dimmed hopes for a December rate hike, taking others down with it. [USD/]
Most Asian units were stronger compared to the dollar. For a snapshot see [EMRG/FRX]
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts PNDF were quoting at 47.17/27, largely unchanged from the onshore spot rate. (Reporting by Swati Bhat; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)
