The Indian rupee on Friday rebounded by seventeen paise to close at 48.67/68 against the greenback due to strong recovery in equities amid a weak dollar overseas.
In fairly active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit opened higher at 48.76/68 a dollar against Thursday's close of 48.84/85.
It later improved further to settle the day at 48.67/68 a dollar, a rise of 0.35 per cent. The rupee moved in a range of
48.61 and 48.83. It was down by sixteen paise on Thursday.
Forex dealers attributed the smart rise in the rupee value to strong equity markets. The Indian benchmark Sensex ended up by 168.91 points or 1.78 per cent while Asian indices closed firm between 0.96 per cent and 3.23 per cent on Friday.
Dollar selling by banks as well as exporters on expectations of a further fall in the US currency also gave support to the rupee, they added.
A weak dollar overseas against its major rivals boosted rupee sentiment.
However, the index of industrial production (IIP) showed negative growth in December for the second time in the current fiscal, signalling a slowdown in the economy.
Fall in inflation to a year's low of 4.39 per cent during the weekend January 31 indicated key interest rate cuts by the apex bank in the near term.
Lack of dollar demand from oil refiners also helped the rupee rise as global crude oil prices remained low, near $34 a barrel, in Asian trade on Friday.
The Reserve Bank of India, however, fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at Rs 48.72 and for the euro at Rs 62.94.
The rupee premiums on the forward dollar closed further down on sustained receivings by exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in July ended lower at 43-1/2-45-1/2 paise from 46-48 paise on Thursday and the far-forwards maturing in January also ended down at 80-82 paise from 82-1/2-84-1/2 paise previously.
In cross-currency trade, the rupee fell against the pound sterling and declined against the euro and the Japanese yen.
The local currency went sharply down against the pound sterling to end at Rs 70.57/59 from its last close of Rs 69.28/30 and edged up against the euro to Rs 62.59/61 from the overnight close of Rs 62.67/69.
It recovered smartly against the Japanese yen to end at Rs 53.22/24 per 100 yen from the previous close of Rs 54.25/27.
Source : profit.ndtv.com