The Indian rupee continued to rule firm for the second consecutive week against the American currency, surging 97 paise to end at 62.32 per dollar on persistent selling of dollars by banks and exporters and on continued optimism of inflows.
The rupee resumed lower at 63.43 per dollar as against the last weekend’s level of 63.29 per dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) Market and dropped further to 63.62 on initial dollar demand from banks and importers on the back of higher dollar in the overseas market.
However, it recovered at the fag-end of the week to a 4-week high of 62.29 per dollar before ending at 62.32 per dollar on selling of dollars by exporters, showing a gain of 97 paise or 1.53 per cent.
The local unit had last ended at 62.29 per dollar on December 12, 2014.
The rupee has gained 125 paise or 1.97 per cent in the two weeks.
Meanwhile, the rupee premiums on forward dollar ended lower on sustained receiving by exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in June dropped further to 218-220 paise compared to last weekend level of 226-228 paise and far-forward contracts maturing in December 2015 fell back to 423-425 paise from 433-435 paise.
The RBI fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at 62.3953 and the euro at 73.6140, as against 63.2878 and 76.3061 respectively.
The rupee also rallied to 94.41 against the pound sterling from 97.65 in the preceding weekend and also shot up against the euro to 73.61 from 76.25.
It also moved up to 52.25 per 100 yen compared to 52.52 previous weekend.