Mumbai: The Indian rupee Friday strengthened by 12 paise to end at 62.19 against the dollar, logging its first gain in five sessions, on selling of the US currency by banks and exporters amid a strong local equity market.
The Indian rupee opened higher at 62.14 compared to yesterday's close of 62.31 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market here. It firmed up further to a high 62.04 on initial selling of dollars by banks.
However, the rupee trimmed its initial gains and fell to 62.21 per dollar on some dollar demand from banks before finishing at 62.19 per dollar, logging a net gain of 12 paise or 0.19 percent.
The rupee had dropped by 62 paise, or 1.01 percent, in the previous four days.
The local currency hovered in a range of 62.045 and 62.21 per dollar during the day.
The dollar index was down by 0.06 percent against a basket of its major global rivals.
Veracity Group, CEO, Pramit Brahmbhatt said: "Rupee took cues from strong local equities which extended its yesterday's gain and closed up by over one percent".
Also, FII buying in debt market helped the rupee to trade strong against the dollar index, he added.
The trading range for the spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 61.70 to 62.70.
In Tokyo market, the US dollar fell against the yen.
Meanwhile, the benchmark BSE Sensex rose further by 289.83 points, or 1.01 percent, to finish at 29,094.93.
"The USD-INR pair tumbled due to release of weak US retail sales and unemployment numbers," said India Forex Advisors Pvt Ltd in a report.
Meanwhile, the forward premia moved up on fresh paying pressure from corporates.
The benchmark six-month premium payable in July ruled steady at 210-212 paise while forward contracts maturing in January 2016 also moved up to 420-422 paise from 417.5-419.5 paise yesterday.
The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for dollar at 62.1360 and for Euro at 71.0525.
The rupee dropped further against the pound to 95.74 per pound from 95.56 per pound previously and fell against the euro to 71.00 per euro from 70.63.
It also fell against the yen to 52.35 per 100 yen from 52.02 yesterday.
