Rupee gains 30 paise against the dollar

The rupee today appreciated by 30 paise to close at 46.68/69 against the US currency on sustained selling of dollars from banks on hopes of capital inflow into the equity markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange (forex) market, the domestic unit opened strongly at 46.64/65 a dollar from its previous close of 46.98/99. It moved in a range of 46.48 per dollar and 46.70 per dollar during the day.

A rally in equities on the back of firm global cues boosted the rupee against the dollar, a dealer said. The benchmark Sensex shot up by 281 points, or 1.68%.

In London, the dollar fell across the board today after a rise in share markets on the back of strong US economic data, which helped to cool extreme risk aversion.

The US National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index rose by a better than expected 6% in April. Also, automakers reported double-digit jumps in sales in the US in May.

Speculation that there would be a strong reading of the US jobs data due on Friday prompted demand for riskier currencies, pushing the Australian and New Zealand dollars higher and supporting even the euro, which has been plagued by euro zone debt problems.

Meanwhile, global crude oil was trading above US $73 a barrel in London today.

The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in October eased to 53-55 paise from 54½-56 paise on Wednesday and far-forward maturing in April to 98-100 paise from 98½-100 paise previously.

The Reserve Bank of India fixed the dollar reference rate at Rs46.52 and for the euro at Rs57.22.

The rupee firmed up against the pound and the yen while it  dropped against the euro.

The rupee moved up against the pound to close at 68.43/45 to a pound from Wednesday's close of 68.84/86 while dropping against the euro to 58.10/12 per euro from Rs57.35/37 previously.

It strengthened against the yen to Rs50.36/38 per 100 yen from its last close of Rs51.13/15.