Mumbai (PTI): The rupee strengthened further by 29 paise to close at a nearly 12-week high of 73.00 against the US dollar on Tuesday, marking its fourth straight session of gain following a firm trend in domestic equities and foreign fund inflows.
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened higher at 73.26 against the greenback and later breached the 72 level in day trade after strong gains in equity markets.
The local unit moved in a range of 72.99 to 73.29 before settling at 73.00, the highest closing level since June 9. The rupee has spurted by 124 paise against the dollar in four straight sessions to Tuesday.
“The Indian rupee appreciated against the dollar supported by dollar inflows, absence of the Reserve Bank of India’s intervention in the spot market and dovish comments by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell,” said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.
The unit rose 1.9 per cent in August, its biggest gain since May and tracked Asian and emerging market currencies this month.
The Thai baht rallied 1.9 per cent, while the Malaysian ringgit and Singapore dollar appreciated 1.5 per cent and 0.5 per cent, respectively, in August, Iyer said
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading down 0.12 at 92.54. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.83 per cent to USD 72.80 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 662.63 points or 1.16 per cent higher at a lifetime high of 57,552.39, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 201.15 points or 1.19 per cent to a record closing of 17,132.20.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Monday as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,202.81 crore, exchange data showed.