Rupee holds 1—mth high of 64.33 as dollar crumbles

The rupee on Tuesday saw a marginal two paise increase in its value at 64.33 a dollar, still holding its highest level in over a month against the US currency which hit multi—month lows against rivals.

This is again the highest closing for the domestic currency since June 14, when it had hit 64.30.

A massive sell—off in local equities largely kept forex market sentiment little shaky despite the sluggish dollar tone overseas even as emerging market currencies remained subdued.

The rupee opened marginally higher at 64.32 against Monday’s closing of 64.35 in yet another day of extremely thin and lethargic trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market.

It was confined to a very narrow band of 64.31 and 64.37 as scattered dollar demand from public—sector banks in early trade was absorbed by adequate local supplies.

The local unit finally managed to settle higher at 64.33, revealing a small gain of 2 paise, or 0.03 %.

The RBI, meanwhile, fixed the



reference rate for the dollar at 64.3301 and for the euro at 74.1469.

Robust FII inflows into equities and debt predominantly helped the home currency to stay afloat, a forex dealer commented.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 328.61 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

Indian bourses succumbed to massive profit taking — retreating sharply from their overnight historic highs as investors’ sentiment took a huge beating following a steep fall in index heavyweight ITC after the GST Council increased compensation cess on cigarettes.

In worldwide trade, the greenback traded substantially weak, hitting multi—month lows against its rivals after the Trump healthcare bill failed to get enough backing to proceed to a debate.

In cross—currency trades, the rupee recovered against the pound sterling to finish at 83.73 from 84.05 per pound, but remained weak against the euro to end at 74.29 from 73.76 yesterday.