Rupee rises for 3rd day, up 28p vs USD at 54.28 on capital inflows

The rupee resumed better at 54.52 a dollar from previous close of 54.56 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and immediately touched a low of 54.56.

However, the local currency later rallied to a high of 54.27 before concluding at 54.28, a rise of 28 paise or 0.51 per cent. In three days, rupee has spurted by 64 paise or 1.17 per cent.

The dollar index was trading nearly stable with upward bias ahead of key US jobs data.

"Rupee was seen trading above its one week high against the USD supported by bullish equities and the disinvestment in RCF which took place today. Government sold a 12.5 per cent stake in RCF to raise about USD 57 million. Strong recovery in the Euro also supported rupee gains," said Abhishek Goenka, Founder and CEO, India Forex Advisors.

The outlook for capital inflows remains favourable with more PSU share sales expected to hit the markets this month, bankers said.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex today gathered further momentum and flared up by 269.69 points, its largest gain in 2013 so far, or 1.39 per cent to end at one-month high.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) had bought shares worth USD 126.85 million yesterday, as per Sebi data.

On a weekly basis, the rupee gained by nearly 1.1 per cent against US dollar, the

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