Rupee gains 29 paise to close at 82.37 against US dollar

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 82.41 and touched an intra-day high of 82.25 and a low of 82.44 against the greenback.

It finally closed at 82.37 (provisional), registering a gain of 29 paise over its previous closing price.

On Friday, the rupee had closed at 82.66 against the dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, declined 0.24 per cent to 103.62.

According to Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, the rupee strengthened in line with Asian currencies and hit a one-month high.

“Over the past few days, the rupee has underperformed its regional peers amid a widening current account deficit and foreign fund outflows. But now, looking at recent high-frequency data and a rebound in risk assets, we may see Hai Parmar said, the rupee starts gathering momentum with other Asian currencies.

He said the near-term focus would be on the movement of the Chinese yuan and inflation data from the US and India this week.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 846.94 points, or 1.41 per cent, to close at 60,747.31, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 241.75 points, or 1.35 per cent, to 18,101.20.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 3.27 per cent to $81.14 a barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Friday as they offloaded shares. 2,902.46 crore as per exchange data.