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Indian rupee seen steady but undertone weak

BOMBAY: The Indian rupee is seen steady at the current levels but the undertone is seen weak despite the weekend dollar inflows, dealers said.

Though the supplies might improve this week at the start of the new month, the bias for the rupee will be weak on account of a rising oil import bill and foreign investors holding back ahead of the union budget, they said.

India's year-on-year inflation rate measured by the wholesale price index climbed to 3.31 percent in the week ended January 15 from 3.11 percent a week earlier, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry said on Sunday.

India's foreign exchange reserves rose to $35.170 billion on January 21 from $35.101 billion in the previous week, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said in its weekly statistical supplement on Saturday.

Loans and advances by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to the federal government fell to 56.35 billion rupees in the week ended January 14 from 103.84 billion rupees in the previous week, the central bank said in its weekly statistical supplement on Saturday.

The rupee ended Friday at 43.61/6125 per dollar, off its low of 43.6175 and compared with on Thursday's close of 43.57/5775.

The six-month forward premiums ended on Friday at 3.13 percent compared with on Thursday's close of 3.23.-Reuters