Rupee logs first gain in four days

mumbai — The rupee on Thursday finally managed to get back on its feet after a three-session losing spree, recovering from over six-month lows to end 22 paise higher at 65.50 a dollar despite buoyant greenback overseas.

Fresh bouts of dollar selling by exporters and banks along with light unwinding of long dollar positions largely helped the rupee to rebound from early plunge.

A slew of weak macro data along with massive fund outflows from domestic capital markets against the back drop of imminent Fed rate hike fear and unwinding of its stimulus measures predominantly kept forex sentiment highly nervous and disarray in last few days.

In the last three sessions, the rupee had depreciated by sharp 93 paise against the US dollar.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened weak at 65.78 from Wednesday’s close of 65.72 and soon drifted lower to hit 65.89 as dollar demand remained unabated. However, showing some resilience, the local unit staged a smart recovery to touch a fresh intra-day high of 65.4950 in late afternoon deals before ending at 65.50, revealing a good gain of 22 paise, or 0.33 per cent.

The RBI, meanwhile, fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 65.7604 and for the euro at 77.1764. In cross-currency trades, the rupee recouped against the pound to finish at 87.85 from 88.18 and firmed up further against the Japanese yen to end at 58.12 per ¥100 from 58.20 earlier. — PTI