Rupee Ends At Over 3-Week High Of 44.81/82 Against Dollar

MUMBAI: For the seventh straight session of rally the rupee inched up by one paise to close at an over three-week high of 44.81/82 against the US dollar on alternate bouts of buying and selling.

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Friday closed down by 117.70 points or 0.64 per cent to 18,376 which capped the rise in the rupee value.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have bought shares worth USD 819.63 million in six days since May 26, mainly giving support to the rupee.

The New York crude oil was quoting below USD 100 a barrel in the European market today.

Alpari Forex ( India) CEO Pramit Brahmbhatt said: "Rupee weakened in the afternoon trade as local equity markets turned negative and Euro retreated from its high formed early in the day. Traders remained cautious as they are awaiting for the US nonfarm payrolls data due after local market hours today".

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit opened slightly better at 44.80/81 a dollar from previous close of 44.82/83.

Later, it was trapped in a narrow range between 44.92 and 44.79 before concluding at 44.81/82.

The dollar index, gauging of six major currencies, was trading nearly stable with downward bias.

The rupee premium for the forward dollar recovered on fresh paying pressure from banks and corporates. The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in November rose to 138-140 paise from 135-1/2-137-1/2 on Thursday.