Rupee closes almost flat at 61.41 against dollar

The Indian rupee on Wednesday ended almost flat at 61.41 against the Greenback on alternate bouts of buying and selling.

Despite a strong start, the rupee erased all its morning gains during intra-day due to sharp bouts of dollar demand from importers. However, it fell later before recouping losses to close almost flat at 61.41 on the back of fresh dollar selling from banks and exporters.

Sustained capital inflows into equities also helped the rupee to cap the fall to some extend, dealers said.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange market (Forex), the domestic unit commenced higher at 61.35 a dollar from previous close of 61.40. It moved in a range of 61.34 and 61.49 before settling at 61.41, showing a marginal fall of one paise.

Meanwhile, US dollar continued its strong rallying momentum against a basket of currencies in late Asian session trade in the wake of Republican wins during the mid-term elections as well as steady improvement in US data.

The benchmark Sensex conquered yet another milestone of 28,000 for the first time briefly before concluding at a new closing peak of 27,915.88, a rise of 55.50 points of 0.20 per cent.