The rupee shot up 41 paise to close at 75.80 (tent) against the US dollar on March 17th, helped by positive domestic equities and broad dollar weakness.
On the interbank FX market, the local unit opened at 75.96 against the greenback, seeing daily highs of 75.77 and lows of 75.97.
The rupee settled at 75.80, up 41 paise from its previous close of 76.21.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the dollar’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.39% to 98.23.
On a weekly basis, the rupee appreciated 63 paise against the US currency.
The rupee posted its best weekly gain since December 24 amid weakness in the dollar index, a rebound in risk sentiment, firm crude oil prices and inflows from overseas funds, said Dilip Parmar, research analyst at HDFC Securities.
The dollar index fell after the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announced a 25 basis point hike on March 16 and announced six more rate hikes this year.
“It effectively met the market’s restrictive expectations this year and exceeded them for 2023. The near-term focus will remain on geopolitical news and risk asset moves which will guide the local entity.
“Spot USD/INR could continue falling towards 75.60 while 76.10 becomes resistance,” added Mr. Parmar.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 5.02% to $102.94 a barrel.
On the domestic stock market front, the BSE Sensex closed 1,047.28 points, or 1.84%, higher at 57,863.93, while the broader NSE Nifty rose 311.70 points, or 1.84%, to 17,287.05.
Foreign institutional investors emerged as net buyers in the capital market on Wednesday, buying ₹311.99 crore of shares, according to stock market data.
