Rupee rises 24 paise against US dollar in early trade

Extending its rising streak for the second day, the rupee appreciated 24 paise against the US dollar to 69.58 in early trade today amid weakness in the greenback against other currencies overseas.

The American currency witnessed selling by exporters and banks after the US President Donald Trump accused China and Europe of manipulating their currencies and criticised the Federal Reserve for hiking interest rates, forex dealers said.

Yesterday, the rupee made strong comeback from its life-time low and ended with a gain of 33 paise at 69.82 on heavy dollar unwinding and a robust rally in domestic equities.

The benchmark BSE Sensex today rose 124.21 points, or 0.32 per cent, to hit its all-time high of 38,402.96 and NSE Nifty too scaled a new peak of 11,581.75 in early trade.