Rupee marginally down against dollar in early trade

In volatile trade, the rupee on Friday fell 20 paise to settle at 55.32 against the dollar tracking weakness in local shares amid a firm dollar overseas as the Eurozone debt problems resurfaced.

Good dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners as Brent North Sea crude slid to $106.65 in London deals, also weighed on rupee while sustained capital inflows limited its fall to some extent, forex dealers said.

The rupee resumed lower at 55.25 a dollar from its previous close of 55.12 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on Friday and immediately touched a high of 55.08.

With the euro falling against the dollar on reports that Spain's Valencia region will seek help to repay loans, the sentiment in favour of rupee changed, traders said.

The rupee fell down to day's low of 55.33 at the fag end before closing at 55.32, showing a fall of 0.36

per cent.

For the week, it lost 0.3 per cent against the dollar.

The dollar index was up by 0.21 per cent against a basket of six major currencies as appetite for risk assets.

The euro hit a session low against the dollar of $1.219, from around USD 1.223 levels earlier.

"The rupee witnessed a volatile session re-visiting the high and low of the day tracking weak global cues.

"The dollar index headed for fresh intra-day highs during the session on global risk aversion," said Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Alpari Financial Services (India).

"We don't expect much would be done after the presidential election as well on account of political hurdles and global uncertainties," India Forex Advisors CEO Abhishek Goenka said. Meanwhile, Indian stocks fell today on concerns over differences in the UPA coalition with Sensex dropping by over 120 points, snapping a three-day upsurge.