The rupee fell to its lowest level in nearly two weeks on Wednesday as rising risk aversion among investors weighed on stocks and regional currencies. At 10:40 a.m.,the partially convertible rupee was at 46.81/82 per dollar,off an early low of 46.87,which was its weakest since Nov. 27,but still down from Tuesday's close of 46.68 "Market is quiet in Asia; equities are down though. Getting a real feel of risk aversion as Asian bonds are rallying against the equities fall. Greece has been the driver," said R.K. Gurumurthy,head of treasury,at ING Vysya Bank. Fitch Ratings downgraded Greece,while Moody's cut the ratings of six Dubai-linked issuers after concluding that no "meaningful" government support would be provided to top firms like DP World. "I think on the upside for the dollar,47.10 will hold in the first attempt. We will see a correction to 46.50 levels before any serious probe higher," Gurumurthy added. At 0510 GMT,Indian shares were down 0.2 percent and Asian shares were also lower. The MSCI's measure of Asian markets other than Japan down 0.7 percent,while Japan's Nikkei shed 1.4 percent. Foreign buying of about $16 billion worth of local equities this year up to early December has helped the rupee rise about 11.5 percent from its record low of 52.2 touched in early March. Last year outflows of more than $13 billion had pushed the rupee down by a fifth. Dealers said the dollar's losses against major units in Asian trade was helping limit the rupee's decline. The index of the dollar against six major currencies was down 0.2 percent. Most Asian currencies were lower. In the currency futures market ,the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at 46.8650,with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $612 million. On Tuesday,the combined volume on the two exchanges touched a record high of $5.5 billion. "Futures is just a reflection of the changing theme,a lot of short covering happening and also a shift in the stronger rupee perception in the short end," Vysya's Gurumurthy said. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 46.82/92,little changed from the onshore spot rate.
