Rupee ends largely steady post choppy trade

The Indian rupee closed little changed after fluctuating through most of the session on Tuesday, closely mirroring local share moves and the dollar overseas.

The partially convertible rupee ended at 45.515/525 per dollar, after trading in a range of 45.3925-45.5425 intraday, a tad weaker than its 45.49/50 close on Monday.

The forex market will remain closed on Wednesday for a local holiday.

"The euro's gain has helped the rupee, and the share market also ended up. There is demand for the rupee in the market. There should be some appreciation of the rupee," said Naveen Raghuvanshi, an associate vice president at Development Credit Bank.

Indian shares rose for a third straight session, climbing 0.4 percent amid choppy trade, but investors doubted the sustainability of the rally, with foreign funds staying on the backfoot.

Foreign funds have sold a net $1.7 billion so far this year until Monday, after purchasing a record $29.3 billion last year.

The euro edged higher on demand from the Middle East and Asia, but it was undermined by scepticism over how euro zone leaders would come up with a quick and effective solution to tackle its debt crisis.

Asian currencies were steady-to-firmer against the dollar, led by gains in the South Korean won and Thai baht, as lower-than-expected Chinese inflation data lent support to risk appetite.

The index of the dollar against six major currencies was down 0.28 percent at 78.369 points when the local forex market closed.

One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 45.77, weaker than the onshore spot rate.

In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange closed at 45.5900, 45.5975 and 45.5975 respectively, with the total traded volume at about $5.9 billion.

(Editing by Malini Menon)