MUMBAI, June 10: The rupee ended little changed on Friday, as bankers squared off positions long of the dollar ahead of crucial US trade data and the weekend, dealers said.

The partly convertible rupee ended at 43.5275/5350 per dollar, off a 43.5550 low but effectively unchanged from its previous close of 43.5325/5375 in lacklustre trade.

With the dollar holding in a range overseas and not really making a sharp move after the initial reaction following Greenspan’s comments, traders who had hoped to see lower levels on the euro were disappointed, a foreign bank dealer said.

In European trade, the dollar hovered within reach of nine-month highs against the euro as the markets awaited US trade data due later in the day.

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan’s comments that the world’s largest economy was on a “firm footing” and that interest rates still had room to rise had seen the euro briefly fall below $1.22 on Thursday before it recovered slightly.—Reuters