Rupee rebounds to 1-week high; US jobs data in focus

Mumbai: The rupee on Friday made a spectacular recovery, appreciating by 18 paise to end at a fresh one-week high of 64.60 a dollar on renewed selling of the American currency by banks and exporters.

Forex traders, however, remained cautious while awaiting the official set of US employment data that are due later in the day, which will be a guiding factor for the Federal Reserve to help decide rate hike policy going forward.

The rupee resumed slightly higher at 64.75 from Thursday's closing value of 64.78 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market.

It kept creeping higher throughout the session to hit an intra-day high of 64.57 in late afternoon deals before concluding at 64.60, revealing a solid gain of 18 paise, or 0.28 percent.

For the week, the rupee ended with a modest 2 paise fall, stretching its downtrend for the fourth-straight week.

The RBI, meanwhile, fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 64.7342 and for the euro at 73.8811.

Unwinding of long dollar positions by banks and currency speculators ahead of the key employment-related data predominantly aided the recovery momentum, a forex dealer said.

The domestic currency had closed at one-month low of 64.88 against US currency on Monday.

Domestic equities, however, showed muted trade amid profit-taking even as Asian stock markets endured a soft day largely impacted by a weaker Wall Street lead.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 15.29 crore yesterday, as per provisional data.

Meanwhile, the US dollar managed to hold on to chunky gains notched up against other major currencies.

The dollar index, which tracks the US currency against a basket of six major rivals, was up at 95.64.

In cross-currency trades, the rupee regained lost ground against the pound sterling to end at 83.33 from 83.86 per pound and also bounced back against the Japanese yen to finish at 56.83 per 100 yens from 57.15 earlier.

It, however, edged down further against the Euro to settle at 73.74 from 73.65 yesterday.

In worldwide trade, the British pound fell back on disappointing UK industrial production, manufacturing output and trade data which all came in below consensus.

In forward market today, premium for dollar continued to slide due to consistent receivings from exporters.

The benchmark six-month premium payable in December moved down to 137.75-139.75 paise from 138-140 paise and the far forward June 2018 contract also softened to 281.50-283.50 paise from 282-284 paise.

On the International commodity front, crude prices drifted sharply by more than 1 per cent early on Friday, with US crude futures dipping below USD 45 per barrel after data showed a steep rise in US production amid OPEC output jump.

The brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were trading down 58 cents, or 1.2 percent, at USD 47.53 per barrel in early Asian trade.