Rupee rebounds 11 paise to 64.32 a dollar, as exporters sell greenback

The rupee on Friday bounced back after a brief overnight deviation and ended with a good 11 paise gain at 64.32 due to a fresh wave of dollar selling by exporters.

Upbeat equities and robust capital inflows too helped in the rupee recovery, supported by heavy unwinding of US dollar by banks and corporates. Dollar's weakness against other Asian currencies also had an impact on the trading pattern in the forex market.

The rupee had ended 15 paise lower on Thursday.

The domestic currency opened firm at 64.38 as compared to Thursday's close of 64.43. It kept the strong momentum intact to touch an intra-day high of 64.30 in later afternoon deals before ending at 64.32, revealing a smart gain of 11 paise, or 0.17 per cent.
 
For the week, the rupee appreciated by a good 13 paise.

The RBI, meanwhile, fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 64.3185 and for the euro at 74.8796.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 154.91 crore yesterday.

In the meantime, Indian bourses bounced back to end near their record highs as investor sentiment got a boost after stronger-than-expected earnings from the oil-to-telecom behemoth Reliance Industries and its announcement of bonus share issue.

Global shares were mixed on Friday as trading was becalmed by a lull in market-moving news.

In cross-currency trades, the rupee retreated against the pound sterling to close at 83.65 from 83.39 per pound and also dropped further against the euro to finish at 74.88 from 74.07 earlier.

It remained weak against the Japanese yen to settle at 57.67 per 100 yens from 57.41 earlier.

On the global front, the dollar succumbed to intense selling pressure on renewed threat of Donald Trump probe in response to comments by special counsel Robert Mueller regarding his investigations on the Russia-gate, triggering yet another conflict around the US President.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of currencies, slipped below the 94 mark to trade at 93.97 during Asia trade.

In forward market today, the premium for dollar slipped further due to good receivings from exporters.

The benchmark six-month premium payable in December moved down to 128-130 paise from 129-131 paise and the far forward June 2018 contract also eased to 276-278 paise from 277-279 paise.

On the International commodity front, crude prices edged higher on Friday ahead of a key meeting of major oil producing nations next week, though traded below the key USD 50 per barrel level.

Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose 6 cents to USD 49.36 per barrel in early Asian trade.