Rupee extends gains to end at 66, up 10 paise

The rupee on Monday continued its upward march against the US dollar for the third day, firming up by another 10 paise to 66 on fag-end selling of the American currency by banks and exporters on the back of lower greenback in the overseas market.

The rupee resumed lower at 66.20 per dollar as against the last Friday's closing level of 66.10 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market and dropped further to 66.26 on initial demand for the US currency from banks and importers following higher dollar opening.

However, it recovered afterwards to 65.9450 per dollar before finishing at 66 on fag-end dollar selling by banks and exporters, showing a gain of 10 paise or 0.15 per cent.

The rupee has gained by 4 paise or 0.66 per cent in three trading days.

Overseas, the dollar was higher against the basket currencies in early Asian trade, while the euro hit a 6-1/2-month low against the yen and edged near 6-1/2-month lows against the dollar, after the deadly attacks in Paris added to caution on the common currency.

Meanwhile, the dollar posted a slight weekly decline on last Friday in the global market against its main rivals after retail sales in the US failed to accelerate as economists had hoped.

Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO said, "Today the rupee traded positively and appreciated by over 10 paise for the day. Dollar index is trading strong for the day but the positive closing of local equities supported the rupee movement and helped it to close at 66.00."

The trading range for the Spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 65.60 to 66.40.

The benchmark Sensex rose 149.57 points or 0.58 per cent on Monday.

In forward market on Monday, premium for dollar remained weak on consistent receipts from exporters.

The benchmark six-month premium payable in April moved down further to 193.5-195.5 paise from the last weekend's level of 194.75-195.75 paise and far forward October 2016 contract also eased to 401.5-403 paise from 402.5-404 paise.

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.1690 and for the Euro at 70.9729.

The rupee recovered against the pound sterling to end at 100.30 compared to 100.59 on last Friday and also recoupled against the euro to settle at 70.85 against 71.37.

The domestic currency also firmed up against the Japanese currency to close at 53.63 per 100 yen from 53.96.