The rupee today vaulted 113 paise to close at a two and half month high of 54.30 on the back of capital inflows worth Rs 2,800 crore and heavy dollar selling by exporters and some banks.
A sharp fall in dollar overseas, triggered by US Fed’s overnight announcement of a fresh round of quantitative easing, and sustained capital inflows into stock markets helped rupee stay in green all through the session.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the rupee commenced remarkably higher at 54.85 a dollar from overnight close of 55.43.
It improved further to a high of 54.29, before ending at 54.30, showing a gain of 2.03 per cent or 113 paise.
The dollar index, a gauge of six major global currencies was down by 0.48 per cent, after the US Federal Reserve yesterday announced a new bond—purchase programme to bolster the US economy.
The central bank’s steps sent US stocks much higher, reducing demand for the American currency.
Provisional data from stock exchanges showed FIIs pumped in Rs 2,833 crore in stocks today amid reports that India will take more bold steps on economic reforms after hiking diesel price by Rs 5.63 per litre.
The Sensex today spurted by a whopping 443.11 points to a 14-month high of 18,464.27
The premium for the forward dollar remained weak on sustained receipts by exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in February ended weak at 157-159 paise from overnight close of 160-162 paise.
The RBI has fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at 55.7270 and for euro at 71.3415.
The rupee also recovered against the pound sterling to 88.11 from previous close of 89.28 and also rebounded against the euro to 71.15 from 71.54.
The rupee also bounced back against the Japanese Yen to 69.63 per 100 yen against the Japanese yen from 71.33.
