Rupee down by 11 paise in morning trade

Mumbai: The rupee dropped 11 paise to trade at 61.82 against the dollar in late morning deals today on sustained demand for the US currency from banks and importers amid higher greenback overseas.

Earlier, the rupee resumed lower at the 61.82 per dollar as against yesterday close of 61.71 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market. Later, the rupee was quoted at 61.73 on bouts of dollar selling by banks and exporters before sliding again to its opening level of Rs 61.82 at 1045 hrs. It hovered in the range of 61.84-61.73 per dollar during the morning trade. Meanwhile, the BSE Sensex were trading higher by 159.35, or 0.56 per cent, to 28,421.52 in late morning trade.