Snapping its two-day losing streak, the rupee on Monday bounced back by 9 paise to 66.67 against the US dollar on fag-end selling of the American currency by banks and exporters.
The rupee opened lower at 66.78 per dollar as against the last weekend's level of 66.76 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market and dropped further to 66.86 on month-end dollar demand from importers mainly oil refiners.
However, it recovered afterwards to 66.62 on fag-end selling of dollars by exporters before settling at 66.67, showing a gain of nine paise or 0.13 per cent.
It had dropped by 44 paise or 0.66 per cent in the previous two trading days. The local currency moved in a range of 66.62 and 66.86 per dollar during the day.
The dollar index was higher by 0.16 per cent against a basket of six currencies in the late afternoon trade.
The dollar was mainly higher in the late afternoon trade today, as investors prepared for potentially market- moving events later this week, including the closely watched US nonfarm payrolls report and the European Central Bank decision.
Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex ended marginally higher by 17.47 points or 0.07 per cent.