The Indian rupee fell for a sixth session in seven on Thursday as heavy dollar buying by oil refiners and gold importers continued to hurt the local unit amid another bout of risk aversion globally. "I think once the fiscal cliff issue is resolved, which may happen by year-end, the rupee is likely to move towards 53-52.50," said Samir Lodha, managing director at QuantArt Market Solutions.

The partially convertible rupee closed at 54.8450/8550 per dollar compared with its close of 54.55/56 on Wednesday. The pair moved in a range of 54.6450 to 54.91 during the session. In the offshore non-deliverable forward market, the one-month contract was at 55.16 while the three-month was at 55.69. In the currency futures market, the most-traded near-term dollar/rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange closed at around 54.9250 with a total traded volume of $4.88 billion.

Copyright Reuters, 2012