Rupee rises to 45-day high against $

Mumbai: The rupee surged by 30 paise to settle at a one-and-a-half month high of 73.60 against the US dollar on Tuesday, buoyed by foreign fund inflows and heavy buying in domestic equities.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.83 against the US dollar and witnessed an intra-day high of 73.59 and a low of 73.83. The local unit finally closed at 73.60 against the American currency, a level not seen since October 22. On Monday, the rupee fell by 10 paise to settle at 73.90 against the US dollar. "The rupee traded strongly on the back of inflow of money into capital markets as rupee took support near 73.95 levels," Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst (Commodity & Currency) at LKP Securities, said. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.01 per cent to 90.80.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 3,792.06 crore on a net basis on Monday, according to exchange data. On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 181.54 points or 0.40 per cent higher at 45,608.51, while the broader NSE Nifty jumped 37.20 points or 0.28 per cent to 13,392.95. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.35 per cent to $ 48.62 per barrel. (PTI)