Mumbai: Snapping its three-session losing momentum, the rupee on Tuesday recouped by 10 paise to 66.52 on feg-end selling of US dollars by banks and exporters in view of weakness in American currency in the overseas market and a strong bounce back by domestic equities.
Persistent foreign capital inflows into equity market also boosted the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 222.34 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
The rupee resumed lower at 66.72 per dollar against the yesterday's closing of 66.62 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and dropped further to 66.8475 on initial month-end dollar demand from importers.
But, it recovered immediately to 66.48 on fag-end selling of dollars by banks and exporters before ending at 66.52, showing a gain of 10 paise or 0.15 per cent.
It had dropped by 40 paise or 0.60 per cent in previous three trading days.
The dollar index was down 0.23 per cent against a basket of six currencies in the late afternoon trade.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.7330 and euro at 75.1814.
In cross-currency trades, the rupee continued to fall against the pound sterling to finish at 96.83 from 96.51 yesterday.
It also dropped further against the euro to 75.06 from 74.99 per euro previously.
The domestic currency also moved down against the yen to 59.97 per 100 yens from 59.94.
Overseas, the US dollar was mostly lower against its major rivals in early Asian trade ahead of policy decisions from the Federal Reserve and BOJ coming within hours of each other, while the yen found a steadier footing after having crept up from multi-week fall against the dollar and euro as investors adjusted positions ahead of the Bank of Japan policy review.
The US dollar was slightly lower against the yen during late Asian trade on Tuesday, with many participants reluctant to take strong positions ahead of US and Japanese central bank meetings later this week.
The pound continued its march higher on Tuesday, soaring to a 10-week high against the dollar, as fears that the Brits will vote to leave the European Union receded after pro-EU comments from US President Barack Obama.
Sterling jumped to as high as USD 1.4573, up from USD 1.4483 on Monday, the highest level since mid-February.
Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity Financial Services said, "Following cues from domestic equity market, the rupee opened on a negative note thus by appreciating dollar. But continued to face resistance of 66.80/USD. Further taking cues from domestic equity market where we saw a smart recovery and rally too from low point of the day, the rupee recovered the lost ground and even appreciated for the day."
The benchmark index Nifty closed with a gain of 108 points at 7,963. Thus to end the day, the rupee closed with a gain of 10 paise at 66.52/USD.
In forward market, the premium for dollar declined further on sustained receivings from exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium for September eased to 188-190 paise from 189-191 paise yesterday and far-forward March 2017 contract also edged down to 379-381 paise from 381-383 paise.
Comments
0 comment