Re rises for 3rd day, up 28 paise vs US dollar

Continuing its upward march for the third straight day, the rupee today jumped by 28 paise to settle at over one-week high of 54.28 on robust capital inflows and sustained dollar selling by exporters and banks.

The rupee resumed better at 54.52 a dollar from previous close of 54.56 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and immediately touched a low of 54.56.

However, the local currency later rallied to a high of 54.27 before concluding at 54.28, a rise of 28 paise or 0.51%. In three days, rupee has spurted by 64 paise or 1.17%.

The dollar index was trading nearly stable with upward bias ahead of key US jobs data.

"Rupee was seen trading above its one week high against the USD supported by bullish equities and the disinvestment in RCF which took place today. Government sold a 12.5% stake in RCF to raise about USD 57 million. Strong recovery in the Euro also supported rupee gains," said Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO, India Forex Advisors.

The outlook for capital inflows remains favourable with more PSU share sales expected to hit the markets this month, bankers said.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex today gathered further momentum and flared up by 269.69 points, its largest gain in 2013 so far, or 1.39% to end at one-month high.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) had bought shares worth USD 126.85 million yesterday, as per Sebi data.

On a weekly basis, the rupee gained by nearly 1.1% against US dollar, the biggest gain since the five days ending January 18.

Forex traders said the Euro's recovery today helped rupee rise after the European Central Bank kept its benchmark rate at a record low yesterday.

"Globally, the Euro surged against the US dollar backed by the positive statement of ECB President Mario Draghi. The decision of holding the key policy rates was well accepted by the markets," Goenka added.

The premium for the forward dollar declined further on persistent receipts by exporters.

The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in August softened to 180-1/2-182-1/2 paise from Thursday's close of 183-1/2-185 paise.

Far-forward contracts maturing in February also settled lower at 338-1/2-340-1/2 paise from 344-346 paise.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at 54.4035 and for euro at 71.2385.

The rupee remained strong against the pound sterling to end at 81.58 from previous close of 81.84 and also shot up further against the Japanese yen to 56.72 per 100 yen from 57.95.

However, it fell back against the euro to 71.22 from last close of 71.00.