Rupee ends 4 paise higher against beleaguered dollar

The rupee today staged a mild recovery by gaining four paise to close at 64.08 a dollar on fresh selling of the American currency by banks and exporters in view of weaker dollar overseas.

The rupee gains were, to some extent, capped due to persistent foreign capital outflows.

In the international market, the US dollar fell against safe haven yen after North Korea's latest missile launch re-ignited geopolitical tensions.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 1,334.23 crore yesterday, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

The rupee resumed marginally lower at 64.14 a dollar against Thursday's closing level of 64.12 at the interbank foreign exchange market.

However, the domestic currency recovered to 64.04 per dollar before ending at 64.08, a gain of 4 paise or 0.06 per cent.

The rupee had dropped by 12 paise, or 0.19 per cent, yesterday.

The domestic currency hovered in a range of 64.14 and 64.04 per dollar during the day.

In the overseas market, the dollar index against a basket of six major currencies was trading down by 0.27 in the late afternoon trade.

The US dollar put in a mixed performance versus major rivals yesterday following a knee-jerk spike on the back of economic data earlier in the session, including a strongerthan-expected rise in consumer price inflation for August.

However, the dollar rebounded against the yen in European trade today as traders quickly brushed off the latest missile fired over Japan by North Korea, after an initial dip in risk appetite across currency markets.

Turning to the domestic market, in cross-currency trades, the rupee ended lower against the pound sterling at 87.03 per pound as against the previous closing level of 85.40 and also fell against the euro to finish at 76.59 from 76.18.

The domestic unit firmed up further against the Japanese yen to settle at 57.58 per 100 yens from 57.96 yesterday.

In forward market today, the premium for dollar dropped further on sustained receivings from exporters.

The benchmark six-month premium payable in February eased further to 120.25-122.25 paise from 121.75-123.75 paise yesterday while the far forward August 2018 contract also fell to 260.50-262.50 paise from 262-264 paise.

Meanwhile, the Indian benchmark Sensex moved up further by 30.68 points or 0.10 per cent to close at 32,272.61.