Despite a sluggish performance from the domestic equity markets, rupee surged by 24 paise and ended Wednesday’s trading session at a nearly one-week high of Rs60.95 per dollar. The benchmark Sensex after a volatile session closed flat with just 0.25 points gains at 21,832.86.
As per forex experts, domestic currency appreciated on back of heavy dollar selling by exporters and some banks and sustained buying from foreign institutional investors (FII) also helped currency gain.The local currency that logged its best daily gain since March 6 seemed unperturbed by expectations that US Fed, which concludes a key meeting later tonight, will again taper its stimulus by another $ 10 billion and move away from technical guidance on when it will raise rates, said traders.
Rupee started the session strong at Rs61.07 per dollar from previous close of Rs 61.19 per dollar, but fell back to a low of Rs61.17 per dollar on hesitancy in local equities. It, later, bounced back to a high of Rs60.91 per dollar on fresh dollar selling by exporters and some banks coupled with foreign fund inflows.
This is the strongest closing level for the rupee since the closing at Rs60.94 per dollar on March 11. Wednesday’s 24-paise rise is the also best intraday rise since 64-paise jump on March 6. Despite dollar index rising 0.06 per cent against the basket of global rivals, rupee managed to end the session strong.
Meanwhile, things weren’t so optimistic for the equity markets. While Sensex managed to close with gains of just 0.25 points, the broader index Nifty rose by 7.4 points to 6,524.05.As per market experts, Sensex closed nearly flat due to the heavy losses incurred by information technology (IT) heavyweights, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys on growth outlook fears. TCS slid by 3.84 per cent while Infosys fell by 2.32 per cent.