Rupee flat

The rupee was a little changed on Friday, amid normal importer demand, currency dealers said. In the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee ended steady at 110.55 to the dollar as compared to Thursday’s closing of 110.54.

Dealers said the currency was stable. However, the outlook could depend on high global oil prices.

“We see increasing international oil prices are expected to spur demand for the dollars from importers. It could weigh on domestic unit in the times to come,” a dealer said. Meanwhile, the rupee’s upward march persisted in the open market due to slowdown in demand. The rupee strengthened to 111.30/111.60/dollar from 111.60/111.90 in the previous trading session. The government has rejected the possibility of further depreciation in the exchange rate.