At 2:45pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.40/41 per dollar, weaker than its previous close of Rs46.1250/1350 on Monday Mumbai: The Indian rupee extended its slide to a new three-week low on Wednesday afternoon, tracking a sharp fall in local shares and weighed by gains in the dollar versus major units overseas. At 2:45pm, the partially convertible rupee was at Rs46.40/41 per dollar, weaker than its previous close of Rs46.1250/1350 on Monday. The unit dropped as low as Rs46.44 earlier, its weakest since 4 January. Indian shares were down 2.5%, led by losses in financial stocks as the market caught up with the fall in world stocks on Tuesday as trade resumed after a holiday. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was up 0.3%. Dealers are awaiting the Indian central bank’s quarterly monetary policy review on Friday, with markets expecting an increase in banks’ reserve requirements. The outcome of the US Fed’s two-day FOMC meeting, which began on Tuesday, will also be watched but is expected to yield little in terms of a policy shift. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were quoting at Rs46.28 and Rs46.2825 respectively, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $4.6 billion.

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