Rupee climbs to 10-week high, rallies 53 paise against US dollar

Mumbai, Aug. 27 (PTI): The Indian rupee on Friday rose to a level not seen in over 10 weeks, surging 53 paise to close at 73.69 against the US dollar taking cues from bullish equities ahead of the key speech from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened strong at 74.17 against the greenback, then gained strength and settled for the day at 73.69, higher by 53 paise over its previous close of 74.22. This is the best closing level for the rupee since June 16 this year.

The domestic unit moved in a range of 73.69 to 74.20 in the day trade.

On a weekly basis, the rupee has appreciated 70 paise against the American crisis.

“The Indian rupee marked single biggest day gain after April 16, 2021 on back of month-end rebalancing and foreign fund inflows ahead of the Jackson Hole symposium later tonight,” said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

The global forex market remained calm ahead of the event while the domestic market took this as opportunity and has given range breakout, Parmar said adding that “the bias for the rupee has turned bullish after today’s price action”.

According to Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities, the local unit was range-bound for the whole week but had its biggest single session rise in over four months, on dollar sales by foreign banks amid anticipated inflows.

“The Indian Rupee appreciated against the US Dollar on Friday and had its best week in four months, as the central bank’s absence from the market prompted exit of long positions on the dollar,” Iyer said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, dipped 0.04 per cent to 93.02.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 175.62 points or 0.31 per cent higher at 56,124.72, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 68.30 points or 0.41 per cent to 16,705.20.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, increased 1.32 per cent to USD 72.01 per barrel.