Rupee recoups 9 paise to end at 66.55

The dollar was sharply lower against rival currencies today after major oil producers failed to reach a deal to curb production, prompting investors to rush into the safe-haven Japanese currency.

The rupee on recovered by nine paise against the American currency to close at 66.55 on fresh selling of dollars by banks and exporters in view of weakness in greenback in the overseas market.

Persistent foreign capital inflows in view of sustained rise in equity market also boosted the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said. Foreign portfolio investors and Foreign Institutional Investors bought shares worth Rs 644.27 crore on last Wednesday, as per provisional data.

The domestic currency resumed slightly higher at 66.63 as against last Wednesday's level of 66.64 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and hovered in arange of 66.5225 and 66.7100 before finishing at 66.55, showing a gain of 9 paise or 0.14 per cent.

The dollar index was down by 0.12 per cent as against a basket of six global currencies in the late afternoon trade.

The dollar was sharply lower against rival currencies today after major oil producers failed to reach a deal to curb production, prompting investors to rush into the safe-haven Japanese currency.

Meanwhile, the RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.6663 and euro at 75.2596.

In cross-currency trades, the rupee advanced further against the pound sterling to close at 94.33 from 94.86 on last Wednesday.

It also moved up further against the euro to 75.26 per euro from 75.32 while declined against the yen to 61.49 per 100 yens from 60.96 previously.

Pramit Brahmbhatt of Veracity Financial Services said, "On the back of positive cues from domestic equity market, we saw the rupee appreciating against USD. In today's trading session, our benchmark Nifty index gained 64 points. Thus to end the day, the rupee closed by appreciating by 9 paise at 66.55/USD. Trading range for the spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 66.20 to 66.80/USD.

The benchmark Sensex rose further to 189.61 points or 0.74 per cent today.

In forward market, premium for dollar fell on fresh receivings from exporters.

The benchmark six-month premium for September dropped to 194.5-196 paise from 198.5-200 paise previously and far forward March 2017 contract also tumbled to 391.75-392.50 paise from 397.5-398.5 paise previously.

Forex and Money markets will remain closed on Tuesday, April 19, on account of "Mahavir Jayanti".