The rupee snapped its six-session losing streak to end 18 paise higher at 74.21 against the US dollar on Wednesday after the American currency weakened overseas.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex), the domestic unit opened higher at 74.18 and advanced to 74.05 on fresh dollar selling by exporters amid weakness in the greenback against some currencies overseas.
However, the rupee erased some gains and finally settled for the day at 74.21 — up by 18 paise, registering its first rise after sixth straight sessions of losses.
On Tuesday, the rupee tumbled 33 paise to finish at a fresh lifetime low of 74.39 against the US dollar.
Traders said a relief rally in domestic equity markets also boosted sentiment.
The BSE Sensex Wednesday settled for the day at 34,760.89, higher by 461.42 points, or 1.35 per cent. The broader Nifty too reclaimed the key 10,400 mark. It finished at 10,460.10, showing a significant gain of 1.54 per cent.
Traders said RBI’s decision to inject Rs 12,000 crore liquidity into the system through purchase of Government bonds on October 11 to meet the festival season demand for funds supported the recovery in rupee.
Sentiment also got a lift after the SBI, coming to the rescue of cash-strapped NBFCs, Tuesday decided to buy their assets to the tune of Rs 45,000 crore, a move that will provide liquidity support to non-banking financing companies (NBFCs) facing headwinds after a series of loan defaults by IL&FS group firms.
Meanwhile, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,526 crore, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) pulled out a net Rs 1,242 crore Tuesday, as per provisional stock exchange data.
The FBIL set the reference rate for the dollar at 74.1316 per dollar. The reference rate for euro was fixed at 85.2637 and for the British pound at 97.6284. The reference rate for 100 Japanese yen was 65.60.
In the broader market space, the S&P BSE midcap index gained 4.23 per cent and smallcap 3.67 per cent.
At BSE, 2,058 stocks advanced, while 611 declined and 131 remained unchanged.
