Rupee rebounds to one-week high; US jobs data in focus

The rupee on Friday made a spectacular recovery, appreciating by 18 paise to end at a fresh one-week high of 64.60 a dollar on renewed selling of the American currency by banks and exporters.

Forex traders, however, remained cautious while awaiting the official set of US employment data, due later on Friday, which will be a guiding factor for the Federal Reserve to help decide the policy rate hike going forward.

The rupee resumed slightly higher at 64.75 from Thursday’s closing value of 64.78 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market.

It kept creeping higher throughout the session to hit an intraday high of 64.57 in late afternoon deals before concluding at 64.60, revealing a solid gain of 18 paise, or 0.28 per cent.

For the week, the rupee ended with a modest two paise fall, stretching its downtrend for the fourth-straight week.

The RBI, meanwhile, fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 64.7342 and for the euro at 73.8811. Unwinding of long dollar positions by banks and currency speculators ahead of the key employment-related data predominantly aided the recovery momentum, a forex dealer said.

The domestic currency had closed at a one-month low of 64.88 against US currency on Monday.

Domestic equities, however, showed muted trade amid profit-taking even as Asian stock markets endured a soft day largely impacted by a weaker Wall Street lead.

Foreign portfolio investors sold shares worth a net Rs 15.29 crore on Thursday, according to provisional data.

The US dollar managed to hold on to chunky gains notched up against other major currencies.

The dollar index, which tracks the US currency against a basket of six major rivals, was up at 95.64.

In cross-currency trades, the rupee regained lost ground against the pound sterling to end at 83.33 from 83.86 per pound and also bounced back against the Japanese yen to finish at 56.83 per 100 yens from 57.15 earlier.

It, however, edged down further against the euro to settle at 73.74 from 73.65 on Thursday.