The rupee weakened by 32 paise to a three-week low of 54.57 against the dollar in its opening trade as the greenback strengthened against other currencies overseas. The Indian unit had closed lower at 54.25 on previous trading session. According to forex dealers, increased demand for the dollar from banks and importers has also put pressure on the rupee. However, positive domestic equity markets capped a further sharp fall as the rupee recovered to 54.46 per dollar.

Gold prices in spot and futures markets are likely to be volatile as buying in Asia seems to be making up for investors logging out of gold-backed assets elsewhere. Investors now seem to bet on equities for better returns than gold that has been dropping this year after running up continuously for 12 years. On previous trading session, total holdings dropped to 1,057.79 tonnes. In early Asian trade, spot gold fell and then rose to $1,456.97 an ounce, while gold futures maturing in June ruled at $1,456.20 an ounce.

India's Indirect tax collections for the first 11 months of this fiscal rose by 20% to Rs.4.17 lakh crore. The Budget targeted 27% growth in indirect tax collections in 2012-13. Excise duty collections during April-February 2013 period totaled Rs.1.54 lakh crore, while customs duty and service tax collections were Rs.1.5 lakh crore and Rs.1.13 lakh crore, respectively. The government had fixed the target of indirect tax collections at Rs.5.05 lakh crore for the current fiscal, an increase of around 27% from the 2011-12 target. In February, indirect tax collections were Rs.41000 crore.

Indian Gold futures opened marginally lower at Rs 29,444 per 10 gm on today against the previous close of Rs 29,445. It made a high of Rs 29,467 and low of Rs 29,413. It was down by 0.02 per cent at Rs 29,439. In the Comex, the yellow metal for April delivery was up by $0.2 at $1,592 a troy ounce.

Currently, USD/INR is trading at 54.240 with the positive movement from few trading sessions. It is expected that it may bounce back from this level and reach up to 56 level again from this level. In technical, MACD is trying to make cut downward but a trend line in price line is making support. On the other hand, Stochastic is currently on oversold zone. Weekly support is at 53.626 and resistance can be seen at 55.054.