Rupee firms up for 2nd straight day

Mumbai: The Indian rupee rose for the second straight day and closed nine paise higher at 74.18 against the US dollar on Thursday, tracking an upbeat domestic equity market. Besides, a weaker American unit also helped the rupee in consolidation of gains. At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 74.20, and hit an intra-day high of 74.16 and a low of 74.25. It finally finished at 74.18, higher by 9 paise over its last close.

"The Indian rupee appreciated against the US dollar, aided by portfolio equity inflows and slightly weaker dollar. However, month-end dollar demand from oil companies kept gains in check," said Sriram Iyer, senior research analyst at Reliance Securities. Other Asian currencies also remained range bound this Thursday and possibly going forward in the short run could be data dependent. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.23 to $75.36 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, slipped 0.08 per cent to 91.72. On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 392.92 points or 0.75 per cent higher at 52,699.00, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 103.50 points or 0.66 per cent to 15,790.45. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they sold shares worth Rs 2,890.94 crore, as per exchange data.