Rupee logs best gain in a week, up 20 paise at 54.72

Tracking upward movement in local stocks, the Indian rupee today bounced back by 20 paise, its biggest gain in a week, to close at 54.72 amid fresh dollar selling by exporters and some custodian banks.

Sustained foreign funds inflows of over Rs 500 crore in stocks also helped the rupee recovery while late recovery in dollar overseas later put some pressure on the rupee, a forex dealer said.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market today, the rupee started on a firm note at 54.74 a dollar from previous close of 54.92. It improved further to a high of 54.61 on strong rally in local stocks amid renewed dollar selling by exporters and some banks.

The rupee later fell back to a low of 54.88 on some dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners and early weakness in dollar value in global market. Finally, it closed a tad better at 54.72, registering 20 paise gain or 0.36%.

This was the currency's best gain since 23 paise rise on February 27, 2013.

The Indian stock market benchmark Sensex today improved further by over 109 points or 0.57%, extending gains for straight second day.

The dollar index recovered its early losses and was trading up by 0.11% against a basket of six major rivals.

"Rally in domestic stock markets following record highs made by the Dow Jones Industrial Average on Wall Street yesterday lent support to the rupee. Recovery in the euro was short lived as problems in Europe were going to have a long lasting negative impact on the Euro and consequently on the rupee," Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO, India Forex Advisors.

The premium for the forward dollar remained weak on persistent receipts by exporters.

The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in August eased further to 185-187 paise from Tuesday's close of 186-1/2-188 paise.

Far-forward contracts maturing in February also finished lower at 345-347 paise from 348-349-1/2 paise.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at 54.71 and for euro at 71.43.

The rupee rebounded against the pound sterling at 82.64 from overnight close of 83.28 and also recouped against the euro to 71.34 from 71.59.

It firmed up against the Japanese yen to 58.57 per 100 yen from last close of 58.96.