MUMBAI: The rupee extended its decline in afternoon trades on Wednesday as importers pumped up dollar purchases on the back of rising global crude oil prices with volatile domestic shares providing little direction.
* At 2:55 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 45.4250/4300 per dollar, below its previous close of 45.29/30.
* Dealers expect the rupee to trade in a range of 45.33-45.44 in the rest of the session.
* London crude prices rallied more than half a percent Wednesday, back up above $100 a barrel due to tighter North Sea supplies and concerns over a strike at firms owned by the Suez Canal authority, although transit through the waterway was unaffected.
* Oil is India's biggest import and refiners are the largest buyers of dollars in the domestic currency market.
* Indian shares were volatile after an early slide to their lowest in seven months triggered bargain hunting, but the market undertone remained shaky due to stubbornly high inflation and rising interest rates.
* One-month offshore non-deliverable forwards contracts were at 45.64, weaker than the onshore spot rate.
* In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange , United Stock Exchange and the MCX-SX were all at 45.530, with the total volume traded on the three exchanges at $3.5 billion.
