Rupee falls in opening trade on weak shares, euro worry

The rupee fell on Thursday dragged by weak domestic equities, dollar buying from corporates and lack of cues from the euro on caution before the European Central Bank’s rate decision later in the day and EU summit on Friday.

* At 9:27 a.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 51.91/92 per dollar, weaker from 51.715/725 close on Wednesday and traders expect the rupee to decline to 52 during the day.

* The euro struggled to make much headway in Asia on Thursday, continuing to consolidate ahead of an expected European Central Bank rate cut decision and a crucial EU leaders summit.

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* The index of the dollar against six major currencies was at 78.475 points, compared with 78.602 points when the rupee market closed on Wednesday. The euro was trading at $1.3395 versus $1.3384 previously.

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* The BSE Sensex was down more than 0.5 percent after ending positive on Wednesday.

* Market expects European leaders, despite pessimistic comments from Germany, to push through concrete steps to deal with the region’s festering debt crisis given the threat of mass credit rating downgrades and pressure from around the world.

* The Nikkei newspaper reported that Group of 20 nations is planning to put together a $600 billion lending facility at the International Monetary Fund to bolster indebted countries in the euro zone. But IMF, a G20 official and a Japanese government functionary dismissed the report.

Reuters