Rupee gains 11 paise against dollar

MUMBAI: Recovering from initial losses, the rupee today closed 11 paise higher at 44.32/33 against the US cuurency on a late dollar selling by exporters.

The domestic unit had fallen to a low of 44.58 in early stages on good demand for the US currency from banks and corporates on the back of higher dollar overseas.

Weakness in local as well as other Asian equities too weighed on the rupee, dealers said. The Indian benchmark Sensex was down by nearly 110 points immediately after the onset of business.

Dollar selling by exporters, later, helped the rupee to conclude the day at 44.32/33 a dollar. Late recovery in the stock market also partly helped rupee post gains.

Meanwhile, global crude oil prices were trading below USD 85 a barrel in London today.

The rupee premium for the forward dollar ended steady on alternate bouts of buying and selling.

The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in September ended at 70-1/2-71-1/2 paise from 70-72 paise on Thursday and far-forward maturing in March closed at 142-143 paise from 141-1/2-142-1/2 paise previously.

The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for the dollar at Rs 44.49 and for the euro at Rs 60.16.

In cross currency trade, the domestic currency ended lower against the pound and the Japanese yen while rose against the euro.

The rupee eased against the pound to end at Rs 68.51/53 per pound from Thursday's close of Rs 68.49/51 and also fell back against the yen to Rs 47.80/72 from Rs 47.70/72 previously.

However, it improved further against the euro to Rs 59.96/98 per euro from its last close of Rs 60.14/16.