Rupee hits new 3-week high, jumps 20 paise to Rs 67

Extending gains against the dollar for the third day, the rupee on Monday firmed up by 28 paise to close at a three-week high of 66.98 on sustained selling of dollars by exporters on the back of strong foreign capital inflows.

The rupee opened at 66.95 against last Friday's closing level of 67.26 a dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market in Mumbai and rose to 66.85 before ending at 66.98, showing a gain of 28 paise or 0.42%. The rupee had last ended at 66.98 on May 18.

The rupee has gained 48 paise or 0.72% in three trading days. It hovered in a range of 66.85 and 67.05 a dollar during the day.

Heavy capital inflows mainly boosted the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 1,585.01 crore last Friday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Meanwhile, the dollar index was up 0.13% against the basket of six global currencies.

Meanwhile, the RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.9614 and euro at 75.9409.

In cross-currency trades, the rupee continued to rule firm against the pound sterling and closed at 96.54, compared to 96.98 on last Friday while fell against the euro to end at 75.99 from 74.94 earlier.

It weakened further against the yen to settle at 62.50 per 100 yens from 61.78 yesterday.