The rupee slightly trimmed its initial gains, but was still trading up by five paise to 60.71 against the US dollar in late morning deals today on sustained bouts of dollar selling by banks and exporters amid robust equity markets.

Earlier, the rupee resumed slightly lower by 60.77 as against the last closing level of 60.76 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market but it immediately gained strength to quote 60.69 in early trade on bouts of dollar selling by exporters.

Later, the domestic unit pared to quote 60.71 per dollar at 11.50 hours.

It moved in a range of 60.77 and 60.69 per dollar during the morning trade. Forex market remained closed on Friday and Monday on account of 'Independence Day' and 'Parsi New Year'. Crude oil prices rebounded in Asia today on bargain- hunting after tumbling on easing concerns about conflicts in Ukraine and Iraq. In New York Market, the US dollar trading firm against its major rivals after a solid US housing data and a rise in US bond yields on the back of hopes of an easing of geopolitical tensions. Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex was trading higher by 26 points, or 0.23 per cent, to 26,450.89 at 11.50 am.

PTI