Thursday, June 22 2006 12:07 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Mumbai: The rupee today (June 22,2006) fell sharply against the US currency after opening firm at Rs 45.9250/9350 a dollar driven lower by expectations of high arbritage opportunity in the non-deliverable forward (NDF) markets.

In active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market here, the rupee opened higher at Rs 45.9250/9350 per dollar over previous close of Rs 45.96/97 a dollar but later fell back to Rs 45.9850/9950 per dollar in later morningdealings despite a strong rally in equity markets.

Foreign banks were expected to be engaged in arbitrage trading in the NDF markets, forex dealers said.

The weak dollar in overseas markets and a sharp rally in Indian stocks failed to have any impact on the rupee movements, a leading forex dealer commented.

The dollar weakened against the euro and the yen yesterday.