Rupee steady against US currency

MUMBAI: The rupee on Friday held steady against the US currency and was quoted at 40.71/72 in late morning deals on alternate bouts of dollar buying and selling.

In lacklustre trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic currency opened steady at 40.71/72 a dollar and moved in a narrow range of 40.70-40.73 before being quoted at 40.71/72 a dollar in late morning deals.

Lack of any major trigger kept the rupee steady as there was no demand for dollar in early deals, forex dealers said.

Equity markets also showed signs of consolidation at higher levels, expecting some outflows in the near future. Asian trend also depicted weak trend today.

Dealers are also expecting the central bank to intervene if the rupee surges.

In New York, the dollar was little changed against its main rivals on Thursday.