The rupee on Friday appreciated further by 19 paise to 49.15/16 against the U.S. currency on dollar selling by exporters and a sharp rebound in local stocks.
However, sustained capital outflows capped the rupee rise to certain extent, dealers said.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic currency opened sharply higher at 49.03/04 a dollar against last Wednesday’s close of 49.34/35 and immediately touched a high of 48.90.
Dealers attributed early rise in the rupee value to smart jump in local equities. The BSE benchmark Sensex was up by over 555 points in morning trade.
However, late dollar demand from importers and some banks weighed on the rupee and it fell back to a low of 49.22 before concluding at 49.15/16, a rise of 0.39 per cent.
The Sensex on Friday closed higher by 440.13 points or 2.79 per cent after crashing by 905.66 points or 5.42 per cent in straight last four sessions.
Sustained dollar selling by exporters on the back of dollar weakness in global markets too boosted the rupee sentiment.
The dollar index was down by nearly 0.2 per cent against a basket of currencies and New York crude oil was trading above $82 a barrel in European market on Friday.
FIIs pulled out $614.99 million in last five trading days since September 29.
The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for the U.S. dollar at Rs. 49.1355 and for the Euro at Rs. 65.9981.
The rupee premium for the forward dollar rebounded on fresh paying pressure from banks and corporates. The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in March settled up at 77-79-1/2 paise from Wednesday’s close of 64-66 paise and far-forward contracts maturing in September also finished strong at 108-110-1/2 paise from 88-91 paise previously.
The rupee remained weak against the pound sterling to end at Rs. 76.37/39 from Wednesday’s close of Rs. 76.25/27 and also declined further to Rs. 66.06/08 per euro from Rs. 65.84/86 previously. It, however, improved further slightly against the Japanese yen to Rs. 64.36/38 per 100 yen from last close of Rs. 64.39/41.
