India rupee drops on choppy stx; dollar moves eyed

The Indian rupee was weaker in afternoon trade on Wednesday tracking a choppy sharemarket which failed to provide clarity on fund flows while traders also watched the dollar's performance versus majors for direction.

* At 1:50 p.m., the partially convertible rupee INR=IN was at 48.54/55 per dollar, weaker than its previous close of 48.47/48. The rupee has traded in a 48.45-48.585 band so far during the session.

* Shares .BSESN were choppy as investors booked profits after the market rallied 4.7 percent over three days and doubled gains on the main index from 2009 lows.

* The dollar's broad slide paused after it hit its lowest in a year against the Australian and New Zealand dollars on Wednesday, but it held near its 2009 low on the euro, as investors sold the low-yielding greenback in a renewed shift to riskier assets.

* In the currency futures market INRFUTURES, the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at 48.50 each, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $1.2 billion.