Rupee Gains Five Paise Against Dollar On Firm Local Equities

MUMBAI: The rupee gained five paise on Thursday to close at 44.43/44 against the US currency following bullish local equities amid frenzied capital inflows despite a firm dollar overseas.

At the Interbank foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit opened higher at 44.42/43 a dollar from the last close of 44.48/49. It later settled at 44.43/44.

Fresh dollar selling by exporters too helped the rupee to rebound from the day's low.

Dealers said the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex' 351.33 points or 1.88 per cent rally to close above 19K-mark after two months, mainly supported the rupee rise.

Sustained portfolio investments by foreign funds too aided the rupee sentiment, they added.

Abhishek Goenka India Forex Advisors CEO said, "It must be noted that even over the USD 2.2 billion foreign fund inflows in equities in the last two weeks have not enabled the rupee to break the crucial level of 44.30."

The dollar index of six major currencies was up by over 0.2 per cent while New York crude oil was trading above USD 97 a barrel in European market.

The US dollar advanced against the euro yesterday as concerns about the debt of European's peripheral countries increased following Moody's downgrade of Portugal.