Mumbai, Jan 4: The rupee today gained 26 paise to close at more than a week's high of 52.95/96 against the US currency on sustained dollar selling by exporters amid signs of fresh capital inflows.
The local unit traded between 52.91 and 53.21/22 before settling the day higher by 26 paise, or 0.49 per cent, at 52.95/96 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.
Weak dollar demand from importers amid persistent dollar offloading by exporters supported the rupee's value to gain, forex dealers said.
FIIs pumped in USD 61.18 million yesterday as per Sebi data, which also gave some support to the local currency.
Meanwhile, BSE benchmark index Sensex fell by 56.72 points to settle at 15,882.64.
The dollar index was up by nearly 0.4 per cent against a basket of currencies, while New York crude oil was trading above USD 102 a barrel in the European market.
“We can see a temporary correction till 52.80 levels, still the overall trend is of weakness for rupee,” Abhishek Goenka, CEO, India Forex Advisors said.
The rupee premium for the forward dollar ended further slightly lower on sustained receivings by exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in June eased to 154-156 paise from 155-1/2-157-1/2 paise on Tuesday and far-forward contracts maturing in December also settled lower at 253-255 paise from 255-1/2-257-1/2 paise in the previous session.
RBI fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at 53.1400 and for the euro at 69.2485.
The rupee recovered against the pound sterling to end at Rs 82.65/67 from Tuesday's close of Rs 83.07/09 and also bounced back against the euro to Rs 68.72/74 from Rs 69.47/49.
It also rebounded against the Japanese yen to Rs 69.05/07 per 100 yen from last close of Rs 69.42/44.
