Rupee hits 1-wk high of 67.08, gains 9 paise

Maintaining its upbeat momentum, the rupee today firmed up by another 9 paise to end at a fresh one-week high of 67.08 against the US dollar amid sustained selling of the American currency by banks and exporters.
Robust capital inflows along with a smart rebound in domestic equities and unwinding of some dollar positions by speculators further supported the sentiment.
The domestic unit gained 9 paise, or 0.13 per cent, at the close.
The rupee resumed almost flat with a negative bias at 67.18 from Thursday's closing level of 67.17 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and weakened further to hit an intra-day low of 67.21 on initial dollar demand from importers and corporates.

However, the local currency swung completely in the opposite direction in mid-afternoon trade on the back of adequate dollar supply and accelerated gains to end firmly higher at 67.08, showing a smart rise of 9 paise, or 0.13 per cent.
The US dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was up 0.23 per cent at 97.16 in early trade.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 67.1355 and euro at 74.0303.
In cross-currency trades, the rupee staged a rebound against the pound sterling to close at 87.90 as against 88.51 yesterday and edged higher against the euro to settle at 73.91 compared to 73.98 previously.

In the forward market, premium for dollar continued to
drift owing to consistent receiving by exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium for February dropped to 163-165 paise from 169-171 paise and the forward August 2017 contract also fell sharply to 345-347 paise as against 352.75-353.75 paise.
Meanwhile, foreign funds remained net buyers for the second straight session and bought shares worth Rs 183.85 crore yesterday, as per provisional data from stock exchanges.
The domestic market rallied in line with global peers with the BSE Sensex rising by 265.71 points to end at 28,773.13, while broader Nifty jumping over 90 points to 8,867.45.

Crude oil prices surged for the second day on weaker dollar and a large drop in US crude inventories.