Rupee recovers from initial losses, ends up 2 paise to 67.37

The rupee recovered from initial losses and ended higher by 2 paise to 67.37 per dollar on fresh selling of the American currency by banks and exporters on the back of lower greenback in the overseas market amidst volatile domestic equities.
The rupee opened lower at 67.47 per dollar as against the last closing level of 67.39 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and dropped further to 67.5050 on initial dollar demand from banks and importers.
However, it recovered afterwards to 67.30 on fag-end selling of dollars by banks and exporters before ending at 67.37, showing a marginal gain of 2 paise or 0.02 per cent.

The domestic currency has gained by 8 paise or 0.11 per cent in two days.
Meanwhile, the RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 67.4584 and euro at 74.7169.
In cross-currency trades, the rupee moved up further against the pound sterling to end at 87.41 from 87.81 yesterday and firmed up further against the euro to 74.55 from 74.65.

The domestic currency moved down further against the Japanese yen to 67.08 per 100 yens from 66.68.
In the overseas market, the dollar edged down against
most major currencies in early Asian trade today as investors awaited US jobs data later in the session.

However, the dollar held steady in the late trade today against the Japanese yen and the euro as investors awaited the release of the June jobs report.
Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity Financial Services said, "The rupee opened negative with a loss of 8 paise at 67.47/USD against previous close of 67.39/USD. The rupee traded in narrow range of 67.30 to 67.5050/USD for the whole day. It was muted movement in domestic equity market too. Our benchmark index Nifty too closed with a loss of 15 points at 8,323."
The rupee too traded sideways in absence of directional clarity. Thus to end the day rupee closed with a gain of 2 paisa at 67.37/USD. Trading range for the spot USD/INR pair will be 67 to 67.50/USD.

In the forward market, premium for dollar eased further on persistent receivings from exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium for December moved down further to 191.5-192 paise from 192-194 paise yesterday while forward June 2017 contract also fell further to 388-389 paise from 389-391 paise.
Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex dropped by 74.59 or 0.27 per cent to close at 27,126.90.