Indian rupee to ease on lower regional shares

MUMBAI, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The Indian rupee is expected to start lower on Thursday, tracking losses in regional sharemarkets that could hurt foreign portfolio inflows.

* The partially convertible rupee INR=IN ended at 47.05/06 per dollar on Wednesday, off an intraday peak of 46.9750 and about 0.7 percent stronger than its previous close of 47.40/41.

* Traders said the rupee should ease in initial trade and then wait for the local sharemarket open. They expected a range of 46.90 to 47.30 during the session.

* Foreign funds have bought more than $14 billion of local equities so far this year, after being sellers of more than $13 billion in 2008. The inflows have been a key factor helping the gains in the stock market and the rupee.

* At 0255 GMT, the MSCI index .MIAPJ0000PUS of Asian stocks ex-Japan was trading down 0.5 percent, while the Nifty India stock futures SINc1 traded in Singapore were 0.7 percent lower, both pointing to a subdued start to the local market.

* The dollar index .DXY, a gauge of the U.S. unit's performance versus six majors, was up 0.3 percent. (Reporting by Swati Bhat; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)