The rupee on Tuesday ended at 44.47 per dollar, little changed from its previous close at 44.46 after some foreign banks were seen selling dollar on behalf of exporters, dealers said.
?Some foreign custodian banks were selling dollar in the afternoon trades tracking euro?s movement against the dollar. Euro came off lows and rose to 1.3620 from 1.3550 against the dollar,? said Navin Raghuvanshi, a currency dealer at Development Credit Bank.
A Bangalore based IT major was seen selling dollar to the tune of 400 million approximately, which helped the local unit wipe out its early losses, according to the dealers.
Earlier in the day, the rupee fell to 44.69 as the local stock index lost some quick points on profit booking. The 30-share Sensex ended 17,822, down 31 points after hitting intra-day low at 17,736. One big business conglomerate was buying dollar in the morning trades.
Government bond yields rose on Tuesday but closed off highs because demand for the benchmark 6.35%, 2020 emerged once this paper hit the 8.04-8.05% level, dealers said.
The 2020 bond settled at 8.0262% yield, as against 8.0097%, on Friday. In early trade, the 10-year yield hit an intraday high of 8.07%, a rise of around 30 basis points from Wednesday?s close and a level not seen in 2009-10.
?Very high yields always attract investors. There has been enough of selling in the market and traders started buying as soon as the selling momentum eased,? said a dealer with a primary dealership. ?The 8.05% mark has been a major trigger for investors to start buying,? said a dealer with another primary dealership.