Rupee opens higher at 66.31/$

The currency touched a high and low of 66.30 and 66.34 respectively. Indian rupee extended the recovery against the greenback, helped by sharp fall in oil prices and general softness in US dollar against the basket of currencies.

Indian rupee extended its gain for the sixth consecutive session and opened at 66.31/$ higher by 4 paise in early trade on Tuesday as against the previous close of 66.39/$. On Monday, Indian rupee was up against the greenback, helped by sharp fall in oil prices and general softness in US dollar against the basket of currencies. RBI’s intervention in the Forex markets has also provided lot of stability to the Indian rupee. RBI has earlier announced plans of intervening in the exchange traded currency derivate markets as well in order to shield the currency from the volatility and repercussions of US Fed rate hike.

On global macroeconomic front, private survey of 2,100 Chinese firms reveals that national sales revenue, volumes, output, prices, profits, hiring, borrowing and capital expenditures of various companies were all weaker on qoq basis. The profit numbers are particularly disturbing, with the share of firms reporting profit gains slipping to the lowest level since mid‐2012. Only 14% of firms were reported to be borrowing, the lowest level ever recorded in the survey.

On Monday, Indian rupee ended at 66.35/$, marginally higher by 4 paise.The currency touched a high and low of 66.30 and 66.34 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.32 and for Euro stood at 72.13 on December 21, 2015. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 54.67, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 98.9886.