Mumbai, July 28: In a see-saw trade, the rupee today lost nine paise against the US currency due to month-end dollar demand amid weak equity markets.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, local currency closed at 46.75/76 a dollar, down by 9 paise over the yesterday’s close.
The rupee moved erratically in a range of 46.55 to 46.80 a dollar on alternate bouts of buying and selling.
Dealers attributed higher levels of 46.55 in afternoon deals to dollar selling by exporters.
Late dollar selling by exporters and corporates weighed on the rupee in the last session.
Month-end dollar demand from importers mainly from oil refiners also affected the rupee value against the dollar, a dealer said.
The Indian benchmark Sensex was up just few minutes after the onset of business but profit-booking a day ahead of the expiry of July contract pulled it down by 120.
–Agencies