Dollar/rupee closed at 69.90 against its opening of 69.80. Dollar/rupee ends up on oil related buying by nationalised banks amid a strong greenback. Asian stocks traded flat-to-higher morning as investors remained cautions ahead of the monetary policy decision of the US Federal Reserve on June 19. Dollar hovered near a two-week high early on Monday, as strong U.S. retail sales data tempered some of the fears about a sharp downturn in the world's largest economy.

That provided some relief to the dollar ahead of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting this week. While few expect the Fed to cut rates at Wednesday's policy review, traders are wagering that policy makers will do just that in coming months.

The Fed might cut rates sooner or later but so might its antipodean counterparts as well as the European Central Bank, and such views put the dollar at an advantage.

India has raised tariffs on 28 items exported from the US with effect from Sunday in retaliation to America’s withdrawal of preferential access for Indian products from 5 June.The duties were in retaliation to the US decision of significantly hiking customs duties on certain steel and aluminium products. Among the targeted imports, duty on walnut has been raised from 30% to 120%, while duty on chickpeas, Bengal gram (chana) and masur dal has been raised from 30% to 70%.

Crude oil prices gained as Saudi Arabia expressed hope that OPEC and its allies will agree to extend production cuts into the second half at a meeting that will probably take place early next month.  

Sensex Falls Nearly 500 Points To Close Below 39,000, Nifty 151 points to shut shop at 11,672.