Rupee Jumps 40 Paise to 68.74 Against US Dollar

Mumbai: The rupee on Tuesday recovered from the day's low to finally settle at 68.74 against the US dollar with gains of 40 paise amid sustained foreign fund inflows and heavy buying in domestic equities.

Forex dealers said foreign fund inflows in the debt and equity markets helped the rupee recover.

Besides, the local currency gained strength after the RBI announced second dollar-rupee swap, they added.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex), the domestic currency opened lower at 69.32 a dollar but recovered the losses during the day and touched the day's high of 68.70. It finally settled at 68.74 per dollar, up 40 paise over its previous close.

The Indian unit had appreciated by 16 paise on Friday to close at 69.14.

The forex market was closed on Monday.

According to V K Sharma, Head PCG & Capital Markets Strategy, HDFC Securities, rupee and bonds rose after the RBI announced second USD-INR swap.

"Sovereign bonds gain as RBI's currency swap will add to liquidity in the banking system," Sharma said, adding "the swap auction comes ahead of the important RBI policy statement that is scheduled this week. The central bank is expected to cut rates and a dovish statement could put pressure on the rupee".

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday said it will inject long-term liquidity worth USD 5 billion into the banking system through dollar-rupee buy-sell swap for a tenure of three years on April 23, the second such auction within a month.

Forex dealers said foreign fund inflows and heavy buying in domestic equities supported the rupee, however, strengthening of the US dollar and rising crude prices restricted the upmove.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net buyers in the capital markets, putting in Rs 543.36 crore Tuesday, as per the provisional data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.10 per cent to trade at USD 69.08 per barrel.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, surged 0.17 per cent to 97.39.

Rising for the fourth session in a row, the BSE benchmark Sensex Tuesday added another 185 points to hit an all-time closing high of 39,056 and the NSE Nifty closed above the key 11,700-level on intense buying mainly in auto, IT and banking stocks amid hopes of RBI rate cut.

Meanwhile, Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 69.1198 and for rupee/euro at 77.4478. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 90.2119 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 62.09.