Rupee today rose by nine paise to end at nearly 1—month high of 61.84 versus dollar, after the government said in the interim budget that fiscal deficit this financial year will be capped below target and cut market borrowing for 2014—15.
Sustained dollar selling by exporters and positive cues from stocks also aided the rupee sentiment, traders said.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit commenced slightly lower at 61.96 a dollar from previous close of 61.93. It then touched a low of 62.09 on initial hesitancy in local equities.
However, the rupee later recovered and touched a high of 61.83, before concluding at 61.84 —— a rise of nine paise or 0.15 per cent. This is the best closing since 61.81 on January 22, 2014.
Last Friday, it has shot up by 49 paise or 0.79 per cent.
Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Alpari Financial Services, (India) said: “Rupee appreciated after FM forecast fiscal deficit at 4.6 per cent of GDP for this fiscal, lower than the 4.8 per cent target.”
The government today pegged its net borrowing for 2014—15 at Rs 4.57 lakh crore, Rs 11,580 crore less than the revised estimates of the current fiscal.
The market borrowing programme is estimated to be slightly lower than expectations and that is likely to be positive for yields at least in the near—term, said Dinesh Thakkar, Chairman & Managing Director, Angel Broking.
The dollar index was down by 0.05 per cent against its major rivals, as recent weakness in Japan equities hurt investor appetite and disappointing US data triggered concerns for a slowing economic recovery.
Meanwhile, the equity benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose by 97.24 points. FIIs injected USD 3.09 million last Friday as per Sebi data.
