Rupee bounces back from 3-week lows, up 30 paise

The rupee briefly touched 66.78 in late afternoon trade due to stray dollar buying by some banks.

The rupee on Friday staged a smart recovery from three-week lows and gained 30 paise to end at 66.63 against the American currency following a heavy dollar selling by banks and exporters. 

Calmer local equities a day after abrupt sell-off spooked by China turmoil and smooth supply of dollars also boosted rupee sentiment, but the dollar's strength in overseas limited the rise. 

The home currency resumed sharply higher at 66.75 from overnight close of 66.93 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market and maintained its strong gaining momentum to hit a fresh intra-day high of 66.59, before concluding at 66.63, revealing a healthy rise of 30 paise, or 0.45 per cent. 

It briefly touched 66.78 in late afternoon trade due to stray dollar buying by some banks. 

The domestic currency had closed at 66.93 to hit an over three-week low figure on Thursday. 

In worldwide trade, the US dollar regained strength against major currencies after a brief correction ahead of this year's first non-farm payroll data due later in the day. 

In the meantime, most Asian bourses rebounded from their deep oversold territory led by heavily battered Chinese stocks after authorities scrapped the circuit breaker system even as China's central bank allowed its currency yuan to strengthen for the first time in nine days. 

The dollar index, which tracks the world's reserve currency against a basket of its peers, is firmly higher by 0.53 per cent at 98.82. 

The stock market flagship index Sensex surged by over 82 points to end at 24,934.33, while the broader Nifty rose by 33.05 points to close at 7,601.35. 

Foreign investors remained a net seller for the fifth straight day and sold shares worth Rs 1,051.74 crore (Rs 10.51 billion) on Thursday as per provisional data. 

In forward market, premium for dollar remained sluggish and ended further lower on sustained receivings by exporters. 

The benchmark six-month premium payable in June dropped to 195-197 paise from 197-199 and far forward December 2016 contract also moved down to 406-408 paise as against 407-409 paise on Thursday. 

The RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.6690 and for the euro at 72.5292. 

In cross-currency trades, the rupee firmed up against the pound sterling to settle at 97.40 from Thursday's close of 97.52 and rebounded against the euro to finish at 72.46 from 72.73 earlier. 

The local unit also recouped against the Japanese yen to end at 56.34 from overnight closing level of 56.96 per 100 yen.