Rupee closes steady on mild dollar selling

In a volatile trade, the rupee on Friday recovered towards the fag-end to end steady at 61.86 against the American currency at the Interbank Foreign Exchange due to mild selling of dollars by banks and exporters.

The rupee on Friday resumed slightly higher at 61.84 per dollar as against the last closing level of 61.86 and firmed up further to 61.70 on initial selling of dollars by exporters.

However, the domestic currency failed to maintain initial gains and dropped to 62.03 on month-end dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners before ending at Thursday's closing level of 61.86 per dollar.

It hovered in a range of 61.70 and 62.03 per dollar during the day. Heavy foreign capital inflows mainly boosted the rupee value against the dollar in the initial stage, a forex dealer said.

The dollar index was down by 0.29 pct against a basket of major global rivals.

Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex on Friday dropped by 498.82 points, or 1.68 per cent, to 29,182.95 after hitting an all-time high of 29,844.16 in early trade.