RTRS: Indian rupee off lows as share sale inflows support
MUMBAI, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee was weak on Friday tracking lower domestic stocks and Asian peers after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised a key lending rate, but the currency was off a one-week low as share sale-related inflows supported.
* At 2 p.m., the partially convertible rupee INR=IN was at 46.440/445 per dollar, after trading in the range of 46.405-46.48, the latter being the lowest since Feb 11. It had closed at 46.27/28 on Thursday.
* Traders said the rupee has been supported by inflows related to the $754.4 million share sale in India's state-run Rural Electrification Corp (RURL.BO) [ID:nSGE61H0D7], and 46.50/55 is seen as the resistance level.
* Indian shares were trading down 1.03 percent.
* The South Korean won led Asian currencies lower on Friday as the Federal Reserve's surprise action spurred a dollar rally, prompting Indonesia's central bank to defend the currency for the second day. [EMRG/FRX]
* The dollar leapt and the euro hit a nine-month low after the Federal Reserve raised the discount rate, which it charges banks for emergency loans, signalling it was starting to normalise monetary policy.
* The index of the dollar .DXY against six majors was up 1.1 percent.
* One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts PNDF were quoting at 46.48/525, little changed from the onshore spot rate.
* In the currency futures market INRFUTURES, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at 46.44, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $3.22 billion. (Reporting by Jeanette Rodrigues; editing by Harish Nambiar)
