Rupee jumps to nine-year high of 40.55/$

MUMBAI: The rupee rallied sharply against the US currency and hit a new nine-year high of 40.55/56 on Monday during morning trading on fresh dollar selling triggered by China's decision to revise the trading bank for yuan as well as strong equity markets.

In fairly active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the rupee resumed weak at 40.74/76 a dollar but surged to a fresh nine-year high of 40.55/56 a dollar in late morning deals. It closed at 40.70/71 per dollar on Friday.

The rupee rallied sharply as anticipated in response to China's decision to widen the trading band on the yuan and to raise domestic interest rates, a forex dealer said.

The benchmark Sensex jumped by over 141 points this morning on sustained FII inflows.