Rupee hits fresh 2-1/2 mth high vs US dollar

The rupee continued its stellar run against the US currency and closed at a fresh 2-1/2 month high of 67.31 on heavy dollar unwinding by speculative traders and exporters.
Stretching its powerful rally for the 8th straight session -- its biggest winning run in recent past, the home unit appreciated by another 6 paise against the greenback.
Futuristic and growth-oriented Budget proposals predominantly triggered optimism in the currency markets amid expectations of heavy capital inflows even as speculators are shorting dollar against the rupee ahead of even risk globally, a trader commented.
Moreover, lack of populist measures in the Budget rekindled rate cut hopes at its monetary policy review next week.

The American dollar remained under pressure ahead of January's US employment data later in the day and worries about
the impact of still-uncertain fiscal policy.

The domestic currency opened a tad higher at 67.35 as compared to Thursday's close of 67.37 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market.
But, soon retreated to trade lower at 67.42 for a brief period due to some dollar demand from importers before regaining strength in mid-afternoon deals.
It touched fresh intra-day high of 67.32 towards the tail-end trade before ending at 67.31, revealing a gain of 6 paise, or 0.09 per cent -- the level not seen since November 11 2016 when the rupee was closed at 67.25.

On weekly basis, it has appreciated by a whopping 72 paise against the dollar.
Most Asian currencies were on track for weekly gains as worries about US President Donald Trump's policy woes largely weighed on the greenback.
The US dollar index was trading higher at 100.01 in late afternoon session.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 67.3825 and for the euro at 72.4429.
Crude prices rebounded sharply on renewed geopolitical uncertainties following rising tension between Iran and the US over a ballistic missile test by Tehran this week.
In cross-currency trade, the rupee stated a sharp

recovery against against the British pound to end at 83.94 from 85.25 per pound and hardened further against the euro to finish at 72.25 from 72.79 yesterday.
The local unit also recovered against the Japanese Yen to settle at 59.50 per 100 yens from 59.90 earlier.
Meanwhile, domestic bourses witnessed some amount of consolidation after two-straight session rally and ended marginally higher amid profit-taking ahead of RBI policy review next week along with key corporate earnings outcome.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 108.59 crore yesterday.
The benchmark Sensex edged higher 13.91 points to end at 28,240.52, while broader Nifty added 6.70 pts at 8,740.95.

In the forward market, premium for dollar continued to fall owing to sustained receivings from exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium for July declined to 149-151 paise from 151-153 paise and the far-forward January 2018 contract also moved down to 291-293 paise from 294-296 paise on Thursday.
Crude prices staged a smart recovery on news that US President Donald Trump could be set to impose new sanctions on multiple Iranian entities, raising geopolitical tensions between the two nations.