Rupee depreciates by 6 paise on fresh dollar demand

The rupee pared its initial gains to depreciate by 6 paise to 67.21 against the American currency in late morning deals following fresh bouts of dollar demand from importers and banks amid lower domestic equities.

The rupee opened higher by 67.12 against Wednesday's closing level of 67.15 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market in Mumbai on Thursday.

Later, it hovered between 67.12 and Rs 67.23 during morning deals, before quoting at 67.21 at 10:30 hours.

Meanwhile, the US dollar index was down 0.30% at 94.31 against the basket of six global currencies.

Overseas, the US dollar was on defencive against its major rivals in early Asian trade, while sliding to a 21-month low against the yen after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) held off from expanding its monetary stimulus.

The greenback was already under pressure after the US Federal Reserve lowered its economic growth forecasts and scaled back its rate hike projections.

Meanwhile, the benchmark Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Sensex was trading lower by 326.58 points, or 1.22%, to 26,399.76 at 10:50 hours.