Mumbai, Dec 30: The Indian rupee today shed a marginal three paise to settle a roller-coaster 2011 at 53.10/11 against the US dollar.
Forex dealers said sluggish dollar overseas and sustained capital inflows restricted the rupee's fall.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local currency commenced lower at 53.15/16 and later moved in a range of 53.36 and 53.02, before settling at 53.10/11.
In the calender year 2011, the rupee has crashed by 18.79 per cent.
Dealers attributed the sustained fall in the rupee's value for major part of the year to the eurozone debt crisis. Investors preferred to buy dollar as a safe investment, especially at times of crisis.
The BSE benchmark Sensex fell for the fourth straight session to 15,454.92 points, which mainly weighed on the rupee.
In addition, continued dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, to meet their month-end requirements put pressure on the rupee.
FIIs, which have been the net buyers worth USD 181.36 million in four continuous sessions since December 23, turned net sellers on December 29 and sold shares worth USD 115.61 million, as per SEBI data.
The rupee premium for the forward dollar remained weak on sustained receivings by exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in June eased to 162-164 paise from 165-167 paise on Thursday and far-forward contracts maturing in December also finished down at 266-268 paise from 271-273 paise previously.
RBI fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at Rs 53.2660 and for the euro at Rs 68.9005.
The rupee fell back against the pound sterling to settle at 82.04/06 from Thursday's close of Rs 81.63/65 and also reacted downwards to Rs 68.74/76 per euro from Rs 68.38/40 previously.
It dropped against the Japanese yen to Rs 68.64/66 per 100 yen from last close of Rs 68.17/19.
