Rupee ends little changed -

MUMBAI, Feb 08 (Reuters): The Indian rupee ended little changed on Thursday after the Reserve Bank of India kept its benchmark policy rates unchanged, with the focus now on US economic data and remarks from a Federal Reserve official due later in the day.

The rupee ended at 82.9550 against the US dollar, barely changed from its close at 82.9675 in the previous session.

The dollar index hovered near the 104 handle, while Asian currencies were mostly rangebound.

The RBI kept policy rates unchanged on Thursday while signalling rate cuts may be some time away as it focuses on getting inflation to its 4 per cent medium-term target.

"The last mile of disinflation is always the most challenging and that has to be kept in mind," RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said in his statement.

The rupee had risen to an intraday high of 82.8975 aided by dollar sales from local private banks early in the session but it pared gains after "typical dip buying demand (on the dollar-rupee pair)," surfaced, a foreign exchange trader at a state-run bank said.

While short bets on the Chinese yuan have risen to their highest since mid-November last year.