Rupee ends firmer at 66.82 vs USD, up 13 paise

Mumbai: The rupee continued its stellar performance against the US currency for the fourth straight day today ending higher by 13 paise at 66.82 on heavy dollar selling.

A smart rally in local equities alongside sluggish dollar overseas mainly supported the rupee move.

Moreover, unwinding of long dollar positions ahead of the US job data, which determine the Federal Reserve's next monetary policy action also backed the rupee sentiment.

The home currency opened substantially higher at 66.85 from previous closing value of 66.95 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market owing to sustained dollar selling by exporters and banks.

It remained largely locked within a narrow range of 66.8600 and 66.8100 for the most part before ending at 66.82, showing a smart rise of 13 paise, or 0.19 percent.

On weekly basis, the domestic unit recovered 24 paise, or 0.36 percent after a three-straight weekly slide.

In worldwide trade, US dollar trded almost steady against its major trading counterparts ahead of the much awaited US jobs report for August later in the day. The US dollar index was up 0.03 percent at 95.72 against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies.

Meanwhile, Japanese brokerage Nomura today said the country is likely to post its first quarterly current account surplus in nine years in the June quarter at USD 4 billion or 0.8 percent GDP.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.8405 and euro at 74.8012.

In cross-currency trades, the rupee rebounded against the pound sterling to finish at 88.56 from 88.66, but dropped further against the euro to end at 74.77 from 74.64 earlier.

However, it settled virtually unchanged against the Japanese yen at 64.59 per 100 yens.

The BSE Sensex rallied 108.63 points to end at 28,532.11, while Nifty jumped 35 points to 8,809.65.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) turned net sellers and sold shares worth a net Rs 301.51 crore yesterday according to provisional data released by stock exchanges.

In the forward market, premium for dollar firmed up on fresh paying pressure from corporates.

The benchmark six-month premium for February rose to to 187-189 paise from 185.5-187.5 paise and the forward August 2017 contract also moved higher to 378.5-380.5 paise as compared to 376.5-378.5 paise yesterday.

Crude prices regained some lost ground overnight on weak dollar after a contraction in US manufacturing cast doubt on the economic strength of the United States, the world's biggest oil consumer.

The debt and foreign exchange markets will remain closed on Monday, September 5 on account of Ganesh Chaturthi.