Rupee firms up by 13 paise to 67.14

The domestic currency gained 21 paise or 0.31% in last two days

Extending gains for the second straight session, the rupee today ended higher by 13 paise to 67.14 a dollar on sustained selling of the American currency by banks and exporters in view of persistent foreign capital inflows despite firm dollar overseas.

Firm equity market also boosted the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said. Foreign Portfolio Investors and Foreign Institutional Investors bought shares worth a net Rs 404.69 crore today as per the provisional data issued by stock exchanges. The Sensex gained by 47.81 points or 0.17% today.

The rupee opened lower at 67.33 as against yesterday's closing level of 67.27 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and moved down further to 67.34 on initial dollar demand from importers.

However, it recovered afterwards to close at 67.14 per dollar on fag-end selling of dollars by banks, showing a gain of 13 paise or 0.19%.

The rupee has gained 21 paise or 0.31% in last two days.

The domestic unit hovered in a range of 67.14 and 67.34 during the day.

The dollar index was trading up 0.10% against a basket of six currencies in the late trade.

Meanwhile, the RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 67.2362 and euro at 73.8859.

In cross-currency trades, the rupee firmed up further against the pound sterling to close at 87.97 from 88.26 previously and recovered against the euro to settle at 73.83 from 74.01 previously.