Rupee Gains Ground, A Day After Hitting An All-Time Low Of 80.06 Per Dollar

The rupee gained a touch further early on Friday, a day after hitting its lowest ever of 80.06 against the dollar but closing out below the key psychological rate of 80.

Bloomberg quoted the rupee at 79.8963 against the dollar early on Friday, with a trading range of 79.8750 to 79.9088, after opening at 79.8875.

But PTI reported that the Indian currency fell 5 paise to 79.90 against the US dollar in early trade.

In the previous session, the rupee had hit an all-time low of 80.0638, but closed out the day at 79.9538 against the greenback, according to Bloomberg.

That was driven largely because of the Reserve Bank of India's intervention in the spot and futures markets to limit the sharp decline in the Indian currency.

What has helped the domestic currency is the impetus in Asian stocks and foreign portfolio investments (FPIs) in Indian capital markets rising to the highest since November 17 on Thursday. The net foreign fund inflows on Thursday jumped to over $1 billion.

Fading recession fears on taming of expectations for a very aggressive rate hikes on slowing global economic growth, the dollar well of its recent multi-year highs and a fall in crude oil prices have helped that turnaround in foreign funds flow into Indian markets. 

Asian stock markets were on course for their best week in months, the dollar held off recent record highs and crude oil prices were roughly unchanged after sharp declines on demand concerns.