Mumbai: The rupee Tuesday maintained its winning streak for the second straight day by gaining 33 paise to close at 63.15 against the American currency on persistent selling of dollars by banks and exporters.
Strong recovery in the equity market, which saw the benchmark Sensex rising by 219.39 points today, also boosted the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said.
The rupee today resumed higher at 63.35 per dollar as against the last closing level of 63.48 and moved in a range of 63.45 and 63.11 before concluding the day at 63.15, disclosing a gain of 33 paise or 0.52 percent.
The domestic currency has gained by 41 paise or 0.65 percent in the last two days.
Meanwhile, crude oil prices eased in Asia today as dealers weighed China's fresh monetary stimulus against a supply glut in the US, analysts said.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for May delivery declined 21 cents to USD 56.17 while Brent crude for June fell 21 cents to USD 63.24 in late-morning trade
The dollar index was down by 0.53 pct against a basket of six major global currencies.
In New York, the dollar added to last week?s losses yesterday, as traders looked ahead to monetary policy meetings in the US and Japan, as well as a preliminary look at first-quarter gross domestic product, expected in the second half of the week.
Pramit Brahmbhatt, Veracity Group CEO, said, "Today exporters and banks were seen selling dollar which helped the rupee to trade strong for the day. Dollar index is trading weak against the other major currencies and local equities also closed on a positive note which helped the rupee to appreciate over half percent to end the day at 63.15."
The trading range for the Spot USD/INR pair is expected to be within 62.80 to 63.50, he added.
In the forward market, the premium ended mixed due to uneven demand and supply transactions.
The benchmark six-month premium payable in September eased further to 197.5-199.5 paise from 198-200 paise yesterday on mild receiving by exporters while forward contracts maturing in March 2016 moved up to 416-418 paise from 414-416 paise on mild buying pressure.
The Reserve Bank of India fixed the reference rate for dollar at 63.3305 and for the euro at 68.9289.
The rupee declined against the pound sterling to 96.53 from 95.96 yesterday and also moved down against the euro to 69.06 from 68.77.
However, it recovered against the Japanese yen to 53.12 per 100 yen from 53.19 yesterday.
