Mumbai: The rupee rebounded after edging close to the 62 level against the dollar and ended with a 12 paise gain at 61.62 today as banks and exporters sold the US currency on expectations of continued capital inflows.
The rupee resumed at 61.95 per dollar from the previous close of 61.74 at the interbank foreign exchange market on initial dollar demand from banks and importers.
The local currency recovered to 61.6150 on fag-end dollar sales by banks and exporters before ending at 61.62, a gain of 12 paise, or 0.19 per cent, snapping two days of losses.
“The dollar index, which tracks the performance of the greenback versus a basket of six other major currencies, is trading range bound but is slightly on the weaker side, which helped the rupee to trade strong,” said Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO of Alpari Financial Services (India). “Local equities traded weak and closed down by over 1 per cent, which capped the rupee's gains.”
The 30-share benchmark Sensex dropped 265 points, or 1.25 per cent, to 20,974.79.
Forward dollar premiums closed almost stable. The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in April closed at its previous level of 241-243 paise, while far-forward contracts maturing in October softened to 456-458 paise from 457-459 paise.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 61.7880 and for the euro at 83.4190.
The rupee fell back to 98.90 against the pound from 98.57 previously and recovered to 83.12 per euro from 83.47. It bounced back to 62.70 per 100 Japanese yen from 62.81.
