MUMBAI, Oct 24 (Reuters) - The rupee was holding steady just above 50 per dollar in afternoon trade on Friday helped by suspected Reserve Bank of India intervention but heavy losses in the local stocks continued to weigh.

* At 12:40 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 49.94/95 per dollar, off a low of 50.15, and weaker compared with 49.81/82 at close on Thursday.

* The BSE Sensex fell as much as 8.5 percent to trade below 9,000 points for the first time since June 2006 on Friday after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)left policy unchanged at a review and lowered its economic growth forecast.

* Dealers said month-end dollar demand from importers was also pressuring the rupee but likely dollar sales by the RBI via state-run banks helped the rupee recover some of its losses.

 A weak rupee helps big Indian technology companies that export computer services.

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