Rupee rises for 8th session to 66.19, up 2 paise

Rising for the eighth straight session, the rupee today gained two paise to close at 66.19 against the American currency on sustained selling of dollar by banks and exporters amid robust foreign capital inflows.

Strong equities boosted the rupee against the dollar. The benchmark BSE Sensex ended higher by 195.42 points or 0.76 per cent to 26,034.13.

The rupee resumed higher at 66.10 as against the last Wednesday's closing level of 66.21 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market.

It moved in a range of 66.08 and 66.22 during the day before finishing at 66.19, showing a gain of two paise or 0.03 per cent. It has gained by 90 paise or 1.34 per cent in last eight trading days.

The dollar index was down by 0.06 per cent against the basket of six currencies in the late afternoon trade.

However, the dollar was a tad higher against the yen during Monday's trading session in Asia, as the greenback failed to maintain gains from mid-morning buying amid a lack of fresh trading cues.

Amid thinned-volume trade toward the year-end holiday in Japan, the greenback gained to the intra-day high during the mid-morning trade, suggesting that there was dip-buying demand from Japanese importers, corporate investors and others.

Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO, said, "Today, the rupee opened on a positive note but as the day progressed, the rupee depreciated as we seen buying in USD at lower levels. The rupee closed on a flat note down by two paise at 66.19 levels trading range for the spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 66 to 66.75 range.