The rupee today appreciated by 30 paise to close at 46.68/69 against the US currency on sustained selling of dollar from banks on hopes of capital inflow into the equity markets.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the domestic unit opened strong at 46.64/65 a dollar from its previous close of 46.98/99. It moved in a range of 46.48 per dollar and 46.70 per dollar during the day.
Rally in equities on the back of firm global cues boosted the rupee against the dollar, a dealer said. The Indian benchmark Sensex shot up by 281 points, or 1.68 per cent.
In London, the dollar fell across the board today after a rise in share markets on the back of strong US economic data, which helped to cool extreme risk aversion.
The US National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index rose by a better than expected 6 per cent in April. Also, auto makers also reported double-digit jumps in sales in the US in May.
Speculation that there would be a strong reading of the US jobs data due on Friday prompted demand for riskier currencies, pushing the Australian and New Zealand dollars higher and supporting even the euro, which has been plagued by euro zone debt problems.
Meanwhile, global crude oil was trading above $ 73 a barrel in London today.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in October eased to 53-55 paise from 54-1/2-56 paise on Wednesday and far-forward maturing in April to 98-100 paise from 98-1/2-100 paise previously.
The Reserve Bank fixed the dollar reference rate at Rs 46.52 and for the euro at Rs 57.22.
The rupee firmed up against the pound and the yen while dropped against the euro.
The rupee moved up against the pound to close at Rs 68.43/45 per pound from Wednesday's close of Rs 68.84/86 while dropped against the euro to Rs 58.10/12 per euro from Rs 57.35/37 previously.
It strengthened against the yen to Rs 50.36/38 per 100 yen from its last close of Rs 51.13/15 previously.
