<div>The rupee was slightly weaker in early trades on 19 December after the Federal Reserve said it would scale down its monthly bond purchases, sending emerging market currencies lower.<br /><br />The partially convertible rupee was at 62.26/27 to the dollar versus its close of 62.09/10 on 18 December.<br /><br />The US central bank said it would reduce its monthly asset purchases by $10 billion, bringing them down to $75 billion. The taper will be equally split between mortgage-backed securities and Treasury bonds.<br /><br />The currency is seen as less vulnerable than in the summer when it sold off on fears of a wide current account deficit.<br /><br />The central bank has since added $34 billion to its reserves after opening two concessional forex swap facilities to draw inflows.<br /><br />(Reuters)</div>
