Rupee logs best single day gain this year, up 52 paise

Mumbai :Snapping its three-day losing run, the rupee today jumped 52 paise to log its biggest single day gain this year and ended at 67.55 on fresh selling of dollars by banks and exporters, helped by a recovery in equities.

Weakness of dollar in the overseas market also boosted the value of rupee against the dollar, a forex dealer said.

The rupee resumed higher at 67.85 per dollar as against yesterday’s closing level of 68.07 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market and firmed up further to close at 67.55, showing a gain of 52 paise or 0.76 per cent.

The rupee had dropped by 29 paise or 0.43 per cent in previous three days.

The domestic currency hovered in a range of 67.55 and 67.88 per dollar during the day.

In the global market, the dollar logged its largest one-day drop versus the euro since early December, after a disappointing reading on US service-sector activity was seen putting Federal Reserve interest-rate increase on hold.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity Financial Services said, “Taking cues from global equity market, the rupee opened on a positive note below 68 levels and since opening we saw the rupee strengthening as day progressed.

“Our benchmark index Nifty closed with a considerable gain of 42 points and following to the same, rupee strengthened thus by weakening USD. Thus rupee closed with a gain of 52 paisa at 67.55 levels.”

Trading range for spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 67.2 to 67.8 range.

The BSE benchmark Sensex ended higher by 115.11 points or 0.48 per cent.

Meanwhile, Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 357.13 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by stock exchanges.

PTI