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Indian rupee seen steady, to eye foreign funds

BOMBAY: The Indian rupee is seen trading steady in a range and dealers said the market will eye actions of custodian banks of foreign funds for direction to trade.

The rupee ended slightly firm on Wednesday amid dollar sales by some foreign banks which dealers said appeared to be on behalf of foreign funds.

Foreign funds made net purchases of $52.7 million worth Indian equities on January 11, data released by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Wednesday showed.

Dealers said they expected dollar demand from the State Bank of India and state-run banks buying for their customers or at the behest of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to boost its foreign exchange reserves.

The rupee ended Wednesday at 43.52/525 per dollar against Tuesday's close of 43.5275/5325 per dollar.

The six-month premium ended Wednesday at 3.77 percent compared to Tuesday's close of 3.75.-Reuters