Strengthening its gains for the third session, the rupee on Monday surged by another 24 paise to close at a more than three week high of Rs. 67.13 on persistent selling of U.S. dollars by bank and exporters amid massive rally in domestic equities.
Markets put up a strong rally on an across-the-board buying frenzy, lifting the Sensex about 500 points to close at 11-month high of 27,627 and the Nifty above 8,400 amid robust global cues.
However, firm dollar in the overseas market restricted the rupee’s gain, a forex dealer said.
The rupee opened higher at 67.12 per dollar against last Friday’s closing level of 67.37 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and hovered in a range of 67.06 and 67.22 before ending at more than 3-week high of 67.13, showing a gain of 24 paise or 0.36 per cent.
It has gained by 32 paise or 0.47 per cent in three trading days.
The rupee had last ended at 67.08 per dollar on June 17, 2016.
Meanwhile, the RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 67.1426 and euro at 74.1053.
In cross-currency trades, the rupee moved up further against the pound sterling to end at 87.19 from 87.41 on last Friday and firmed up further against the euro to 74.20 from 74.55.
The domestic currency recouped sharply against the Japanese yen to 65.57 per 100 yens from 67.08.
The dollar index was trading up 0.23 per cent against a basket of six currencies in the late afternoon trade.
In the overseas market, the dollar steadied against the safe haven yen on Monday in early Asian trade, thanks to an improvement in investors’ appetite for riskier assets, but traders said the greenback will be capped longer term by views the Federal Reserve will remain cautious on interest rates.
However, the dollar recovered against big currencies on Monday, particularly the yen, which slumped after Japan’s elections over the weekend.
Tokyo stocks staged solid gains and the yen dropped after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling coalition put in a strong showing in Japan’s upper house election on Sunday. The Nikkei Stock Average rose by 3.98.
In the forward market, premium for dollar showed a narrowly mixed trend due uneven demand and supply of dollars.
The benchmark six-month premium for December moved down to 190-191 paise from 191.5-192 paise while forward June 2017 contract inched up to 389-390 paise from 388-389 paise.
Oil prices eased in Asia on Monday as an increase in U.S. drilling activity and a strong dollar reversed gains from last week’s better-than-forecast U.S. jobs report.
World stocks edged higher as stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report suggested that the US economic recovery was back on track.
