``Indian rupee is expected to open flat against the US dollar vs. 51.42 close on Monday, following mixed cues from Asian market. There`s not much of activity seen in Asia today as investors remain reasonably sidelined ahead of the Euro zone summit and ECB meeting later this week. In Asian indexes, regional markets are trading mildly in positive territory with HSI and Nikkei sharing the same 0.8% of gains at their bourses. China is flat, while Australia has surged bit more than others as Australia`s 3Q GDP beats expectations (expands 1.0% on-quarter vs. 0.8% growth forecast). Meanwhile the Australian dollar, which was hurt by the central bank`s 25-basis point rate cut Tuesday, advanced on the GDP news; to USD 1.0269 from USD 1.0243 just prior to the report,`` said the broking house Edelweiss. It further said the following: Indian rupee was dragged down against the US dollar on Monday as robust dollar demand by state run banks on behalf of oil importers coupled with weakness in domestic shares after government put on hold a crucial FDI decision in retail sector hurt the investors` sentiments in local shares as well as rupee. While choppiness in Euro and other riskier currencies ahead of key events in global markets also weighed on rupee despite the central bank`s pledged that it would take all necessary steps to tame sharp rupee`s depreciation. Finally, at the end of the day, the partially convertible rupee was seen trading at 51.42/42 per dollar, off its intraday low of 51.47 but 0.4% softer than Friday's close of 51.20/21. In other assets class, Indian shares fell on profit booking after rising to two-and-half year on Friday, while doubts over execution of FDI in retail sector by governments also weakened the outlook. The Sensex slipped marginally, recovering from intraday low of 16,691.21 to close at 16,805.33, down by 41 points.
Indian rupee may open flat against the US dollar: