Rupee breaks losing run, gains 10 paise to 66.52 vs USD

Snapping its three-session losing momentum, the rupee today recouped by 10 paise to 66.52 on feg-end selling of US dollars by banks and exporters in view of weakness in American currency in the overseas market and a strong bounce back by domestic equities.
Persistent foreign capital inflows into equity market also boosted the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 222.34 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
The rupee resumed lower at 66.72 per dollar against the yesterday's closing of 66.62 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and dropped further to 66.8475 on initial month-end dollar demand from importers.

But, it recovered immediately to 66.48 on fag-end selling of dollars by banks and exporters before ending at 66.52, showing a gain of 10 paise or 0.15 per cent.
It had dropped by 40 paise or 0.60 per cent in previous three trading days.
The dollar index was down 0.23 per cent against a basket of six currencies in the late afternoon trade.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.7330 and euro at 75.1814.
In cross-currency trades, the rupee continued to fall against the pound sterling to finish at 96.83 from 96.51 yesterday.
It also dropped further against the euro to 75.06 from 74.99 per euro previously.

Meanwhile, FIIs turned net buyers after the recent
selling spree and bought equities worth Rs 495.08 crore during yesterday's trading session, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.
On the global front, the dollar retreated after a bullish two weeks spike to trade marginally lower against its major rivals after an early surge in the yen in Asia put a dampener on any further progress for the greenback.
The dollar index, which tracks the world's reserve currency against a basket of its peers, is down by 0.14 per cent at 95.26.
Brent oil futures climbed above USD 50 a barrel for the first time in nearly seven months on fading global supply glut.

In forward market, premium for dollar declined on fresh receivings from exporters.
The benchmark 6-month premium for October dropped to 175-177 paise from 179-1/2-181-1/2 paise and far forward April 2017 contract also slipped to 372-374 paise against 378-380 paise earlier.
In the meantime, Indian markets continued their strong rallying momentum for the straight third day and touched multi-month highs amid optimism over economic recovery.
The flagship index Sensex surged by a whopping 485 points to close at 26,366.68 while the broader Nifty jumped by a hefty 134.75 points to finish above 8,000 mark.