Rupee strong but off high, tracks Asian peers.

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee was strong in Thursday afternoon trade, tracking positive domestic shares and strong Asian peers but came off the day's high on importer oil demand, dealers said. At 2:24 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 46.54/55 per dollar, up from 46.63/64 at close on Wednesday.

* The rupee moved in a narrow band of 46.5075-46.6050, and traders forecast 46.45-46.65 range for the day. * The rupee's gains were limited by dollar-buying by oil comnpanies to pay for their crude imports, dealers said. India imports a large part of its annual crude requirements.

* Asian currencies were also trading higher. The Korean won reached a fresh one-month high despite the central bank's surprise decision to leave interest rates on hold.

* Indian shares powered to 31-month highs for the fourth day on Thursday, with investor confidence upbeat on rising foreign portfolio inflows and easing concerns about Europe's debt troubles.

* South Korea's central bank held interest rates steady, defying market expectations for a quarter point rise in the face of mounting concerns that the global economic recovery is slowing down.

* The index of the dollar against six major currencies was up 0.07 percent.

* The dollar neared a 15-year low versus the yen on Thursday as traders bet Japanese authorities were not yet ready to intervene in the currency market, while the euro was pressured by banking sector concerns.

* One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 46.66, weaker than the onshore spot rate.

* In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both at 46.6450.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com