With a price war in 4G services looming, the Indian mobile arm of the Norway-based Telenor today sharpened its pitch, saying it will offer lowest tariff in high-speed mobile segment in line with its brand positioning of 'sabse sasta' (most affordable).

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 2.6 per cent, the most since September 9, after probing a four-year low on Thursday.

\"Rupee has been following domestic equity sentiments for quite sometime now, which in effect gauges foreign institutional investors (FIIs) flows - which has been negative.\"

Ind-Ra said that the fragile corporate recovery and expectations of a rebound in commodity prices in the near-term will be constraining factors for the currency.

Cut to Kailash Nagar in East Delhi where some 50,000 children are engaged in thread cutting of jeans. They get 40 paisa per piece for thread cutting and 75 paisa for packing. These children don't work in any factory or production unit, neither do they go to fetch work.

High capital costs, long development time and poor room rates are impacting the return of capital employed (ROCE), making investors impatient and piling on the pressure on hotel operators.

\"Importer demand and purchases from state banks for defence related payments limited appreciation. However, continued foreign funds into the local domestic markets limited depreciation,\" Admisi Forex India Director Suresh Nair said.

In three months, from June to September 2014, Bhutan's debt swelled to 108 per cent from 101 per cent of the GDP size.

Dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners, mainly affected the rupee value against the dollar, dealers said.

\"For the internet economy to touch $200 billion by 2020 that will contribute five per cent of GDP, we need to move at a fast pace towards computer literacy\", he said.

Downbeat factors like sluggish Indian stock markets, fresh capital outflows amid firm dollar overseas could not able to stem the rupee rise, a forex dealer said.

Corporate results for the third-quarter ended December 2014 will be keenly watched. On January 9, software giant Infosys will announce its third-quarter results.

The dollar strengthened in the global markets on speculation the Federal Reserve is on course to raise interest rates this year while the European Central Bank prepares to extend its stimulus measures.

Demand for the greenback from banks and importers and little support from local share market, where benchmark indices ended almost flat, led to rupee snapping a two-session uptrend.

For the year, the rupee fell 2.3 per cent, though that was much better than a 12.6 percent loss last year.

Capital inflows and slight weakness in USD overseas also supported the rupee rise, a forex dealer said.

Chief economists Madan Sabnavis of CARE Ratings and Ajit Ranade of Aditya Birla Group give an outlook for the Indian rupee for the year 2015.

The sharp slide in global oil prices will help the Reserve Bank of India meet its 6 per cent consumer inflation target of January 2016, BofAML said.

Vishal Sikka, who took over as CEO of Infosys in August, has been tasked with putting the firm back on growth trajectory at par with peers like TCS and HCL Technologies.

For the current fiscal, Infosys maintained its revenue guidance of 7-9 per cent growth.