Rupee ends 25 paise higher at 63.75 against dollar on capital inflows

Mumbai: The rupee on Friday closed 25 paise higher at 63.75 against the US dollar, recovering from its 20-month low of 64.26 hit during intra-day trade on Thursday, on fresh selling of the greenback by banks and exporters in view of good foreign capital inflows.

Snapping its three-day losing streak, the rupee resumed lower at 64.02 as against the last closing level of 64 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) on initial dollar demand from banks and importers on the back of higher dollar overseas and fell further to 64.03.

However, it recovered at the fag-end of the day to 63.75, registering a gain of 25 paise or 0.40%. It had dropped by 30 paise, or 0.47%, in the last three trading sessions.

The dollar index was trading higher by 0.14% against its major global rivals on Friday.

In global markets, the dollar rose against the euro on Thursday, as investors braced for the US official jobs report, among jitters over Greece's bailout talks and a rebound in Eurozone's bond markets.

A strong non-farm payrolls reading will provide the Federal Reserve with more ammunition to justify raising interest rates long before other central banks in Japan and the Eurozone.

Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex ended lower by 44.93 points, or 0.17%, to settle at 26,768.49.

Veracity Group CEO Pramit Brahmbhatt said, "Fresh selling of the US currency by exporters and banks supported the rupee though weak local equities and strong dollar capped its gains."

The trading range for the Spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 63.40 to 64.20. In the forward market, the premium for dollar declined further on sustained receipts from exporters.

The benchmark six-month premium payable in November fell further to 217-219 paise from 220-222 paise and forward contracts maturing in May 2016 also fell to 440.5-442.5 paise from 443.5-445.5 paise on Thursday.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 63.8955 and for the euro at 71.8185.

The rupee recovered against the pound sterling to settle at 97.66 from 98.62 and recouped against the euro to 71.62 from 72.58 previously.

It also regained against the Japanese currency to 51.13 per 100 yen as compared to 51.56 on Thursday.