Rupee scales near 4-month high of Rs 66.67, up 4 paise

Forex market was hampered by lack of key triggers amid general wariness ahead of FOMC meet next week

The rupee on Tuesday firmed up for the second consecutive session and closed at a nearly 4-month high of 66.67 on continued selling of the American currency by banks and exporters.

Forex market sentiment remained becalmed for yet another day, hampered by lack of key triggers amid general wariness ahead of the FOMC meet next week.

Healthy capital inflows into upbeat domestic equity markets on the back of better macro fundamentals largely helped the rupee to consolidate its gains, a forex dealer said.

Foreign funds infused a net Rs 564.15 crore in Indian equities yesterday as per the provisional figures.

Meanwhile, the global rating agency Fitch today said the Indian economy will grow by 7.1 per cent in the current fiscal before stepping up to 7.7 per cent in the next two financial years.

The domestic unit resumed higher at 66.67 from Monday's close of 66.71 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market. The home currency closed at 66.67 - a level last seen on 10 November.

It remained largely range-bound and hovered between 66.59 and 66.6925 during the most part of the day before ending at 66.67, revealing a gain of 4 paise, or 0.06 per cent.

Strengthening for the second-straight day, the domestic unit has appreciated by 14 paise.

On the global front, the dollar steadied against a basket of currencies in early European trade.

The US dollar index was trading marginally up at 101.77 in late afternoon session.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.6347 and for the euro at 70.5595.

In cross-currency trade, the rupee recovered against the British pound and finished higher at 81.27 from 81.76 and also bounced back against the euro to settle at 70.50 from 70.59 earlier.

It also recouped against the Japanese Yen to close at 58.50 as compared to 58.62 on Monday.