Rupee edges up 6 paise to 66.96 against dollar

Mumbai, Aug 31 (PTI) Rising for a second straight day, therupee firmed up by 6 paise to close at 66.96 against thegreenback due to sustained dollar selling from exporters amidweak overseas tone. The local currency largely withstood the initial impliedvolatility in the face of month-end demand for the Americancurrency from importers and staged a recovery towards thefag-end of the trade. Robust foreign capital inflows into upbeat domestic equitymarkets on the back of better macro fundamentals also helpedthe rupee to gain, a forex dealer said. However, the upmove was capped due to some caution aheadof the gross domestic product (GDP) data release for the Junequarter and fiscal deficit data later, he added. The home currency opened substantially weak at 67.10 fromyesterday’s close of 67.02 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange(forex) market and advanced further to 67.11 due to freshdollar demand. But later it regained strength to hit an intra-day high of66.95 before ending at 66.96, showing a modest rise of 6paise, or 0.09 per cent. It had gained 16 paise to close at 67.02 overnight – itshighest level in a month. In the meantime, US dollar turned a little softer againstmost of the major and emerging market currencies on someprofit-taking ahead of FridayÂ’s US jobs report. The dollar hit a one-month high against the yen today. Hawkish comments from the US Fed chair Janet Yellen andother central bank speakers last Friday have liftedexpectations that it will raise rates this year. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’sstrength against a trade-weighted basket of six majorcurrencies, was up 0.115 per cent at 96.16 in early trade. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth anet Rs 390.63 crore yesterday, as per provisional datareleased by the stock exchanges. The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.9813and euro at 74.6239. In cross-currency trades, the rupee weakened against thepound sterling to settle at 87.93 from 87.83 and also fellback against the Japanese yen to finish at 66.78 compared to65.48 per 100 yens yesterday. The home unit, however remained firm against the euro toclose at 74.55 from 74.84 earlier. (MORE) PTI EDM ARRABK