Monday August 31, 03:00 PM

Rupee trades weak on losses in local shares

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The rupee continued to be weak in afternoon trade on Monday with lower local shares fuelling concerns about capital outflows, with losses in most other Asian peers adding to the gloom.

* At 1:23 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 48.88/89 per dollar, weaker than its previous close of 48.65/66.

* Shares were trading down 1.6 percent as investors took profits after the market's 7.5 percent rally over the past 1-½ weeks, with weak Asian peers also weighing on sentiment.

* Asian currencies were mostly lower against the dollar. See

* Dealers said the largely in-line-with-expectation gross domestic product data for the June quarter did not have much impact on the market.

* India's economy grew 6.1 percent in the June quarter from a year earlier, roughly in line with forecasts, as government stimulus measures helped spur demand, although a poor monsoon threatens to crimp growth later in the year even as it drives prices higher.

* In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contract on the National Stock Exchange (^NSEI : 4941.75 -63.8) and MCX-SX were both quoting at 48.96 each, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $560 million.