Rupee gains 19 paise vs dollar in morning trade

MUMBAI: The rupee gained 19 paise to trade at 44.16 against the US currency in morning trade on fresh selling of dollars by banks and exporters due to weakness of dollar in overseas markets.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit opened higher at 44.25/26 per dollar against last close of 44.35/36 per dollar. It moved up further to 44.16 per dollar before quoting at 44.28/29 per dollar at 1030hrs.

Banks preferred to reduce their dollar position in view of weakness of dollar in overseas market coupled with rise in equity markets on sustained capital inflow from foreign funds.

The rupee rise was mainly due to hectic capital inflows. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) pumped in a record over USD 26 billion in the current calender year so far.

The Indian benchmark Sensex rallied by 275 points or 1.35 per cent in the early trade following the US Federal Reserve's decision to buy USD 600 billion in bonds to stimulate the US economy.