Mumbai: The rupee rose by 26 paise to close at a week’s high of 79.69 against the US dollar on Thursday amid easing crude oil prices and a firm trend in domestic equities.
Foreign fund inflows and the US dollar edging lower also boosted the local currency.
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 79.72 agai+nst the greenback. It witnessed an intra-day high of 79.65 and a low of 79.83 during the session.
It finally ended at 79.69, up 26 paise from its previous close of 79.95.
“Indian Rupee continues to be an outperformer, aided by lower oil prices and FPI inflows. RBI remains an aggressive seller near 80 handle,” said Anindya Banerjee, VP, Currency Derivatives & Interest Rate Derivatives at Kotak Securities Ltd.
Global backdrop is conducive for USD strength but that would play out by way of limiting the gains in rupee, rather than pushing it below 80 against USD, Banerjee said.
“Therefore, we could see more range bound and low volatility price action over the near term,” Banerjee said.
“The Indian Rupee appreciated on Thursday as the dollar eased ahead of ECB meet and the US Fed Chair Jerome Powell speech,” said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.
Some support in the form of falling crude oil prices which could help check inflation, but demand for the dollar from refiners and importers buying the dip capped gains in the local unit.
Additionally, Asian and emerging market peers were mixed, as investors turned cautious ahead of events this Thursday.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.11 per cent to 109.72.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.60 per cent to USD 87.47 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 659.31 points or 1.12 per cent higher at 59,688.22, while the broader NSE Nifty gained 174.35 points or 0.99 per cent to 17,798.75.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers in the capital markets as they purchased shares worth Rs 2,913.09 crore on Thursday, according to provisional data.
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