Rupee zooms past 3-month high in early trade, up 24 paise

Steady on recovery path, the rupee today went past its three-month high in early trade to 66.95 against the dollar on sustained selling of the American currency by exporters and banks.
On November 10 last year, the rupee had closed at 66.63 against the dollar.
Forex dealers said that besides increased selling of the American currency by exporters as well as banks, a higher opening in the domestic equity market supported the rupee.
They said, however, the dollar's strength against other currencies overseas, capped the gains.
Yesterday, the local currency had staged a smart comeback to end at a nearly 3-month high of 67.19 against the US currency, surging by a solid 22 paise.

The home currency managed to sidestep the early volatility yesterday after RBI's monetary policy committee maintained a status quo on repo rate amid widespread expectations of a cut.
For the second time in a row, the Reserve bank opted for a status quo in its key rates but shifted the stance of the monetary policy from 'accommodative' to 'neutral'.
Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex was up 172.52 points, or 0.61 per cent, at 28,462.44 in early trade.