Rupee Moves Above 70-Mark Against Dollar

The rupee jumped 40 paise Friday to finish at an over one-week high of 69.95 against the US currency on strong dollar buying by banks and exporters amid the greenback's weakness overseas. Domestic stock markets extending gains for the third session also supported the local currency. BSE Sensex rose by 0.75 per cent to reclaim the 36,000-mark on across-the-board buying by investors. The broader NSE Nifty gained 0.74 per cent. Analysts said a weak dollar overseas and oil supply glut concerns propped up the domestic currency.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened strong at 70.05 a dollar against the previous close of 70.35. The local unit moved in a range of 70.12 to 69.89, before finally ending at 69.95, showing a gain of 40 paise or 0.57 per cent. This is its highest closing level since December 20, when the rupee ended at 69.70.    

The US dollar was trading lower against global currencies due to market volatility, uncertainties related to US government shutdown, weak global growth prospects and renewed fears of US-China trade tensions.    

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, dropped 0.35 per cent to 96.23.    

Overnight losses in crude oil also supported early gains in the rupee, analysts said. Brent crude recovered by 1.52 per cent to $53.53 per barrel Friday from previous day's sharp fall of close to 5 per cent, even as supply glut concerns continued to weigh following a rise in US crude inventories.    

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 119.60 crore Friday, provisional data showed.

The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 69.9786 and for rupee/euro at 80.1805. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 88.6564 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 63.28.