Re firms up in early morning deals

The rupee today opened strong against the US dollar after last weekend's weakness and appreciated further during late morning deals in anticipation of a sharp revaluation of the Chinese Yuan shortly.

On the Interbank Foreign Exchange market here, the Indian unit opened sharply higher at Rs 43.77/67 per dollar over its last Friday's close of Rs 43.77/79 a dollar and was later quoted at Rs 43.67/68 per dollar during late morning deals.

Strong anticipation that the Chinese Yuan will be revalued in the near future had a sentimental impact on the forex market during morning trading, dealers said.

"Once the Chinese currency is revalued, other Asian currencies are expected to toe the line," dealers added.

In cross currency trades, the Euro was quoted at Rs 57.26, the Pound Sterling at Rs 81.75 and Japanese Yen (100) at Rs 42.75.