The rupee gained 31 paise to close at 82.35 against the US dollar on Monday, supported by a weaker greenback overseas and a firm trend in domestic equities. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 82.41 and touched an intra-day high of 82.25 and a low of 82.44 against the greenback.
It finally ended at 82.35, registering a rise of 31 paise over its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee settled at 82.66 against the dollar.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, declined 0.24 per cent to 103.62.
According to Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, the rupee strengthened in line with Asian currencies and touched a month high.
"In the last couple of days, the rupee has underperformed among its regional peers amid a headwind of wide current account deficit and foreign fund outflows. But now, looking at the recent high-frequency data and rebound in the risk assets, we could see the rupee start catching up with the other Asian currencies," Parmar said.
The near-term focus will be on the movement of the Chinese yuan and this week's inflation data from the US and India, he added. On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 846.94 points or 1.41 per cent to end at 60,747.31, while the broader NSE Nifty jumped 241.75 points or 1.35 per cent to 18,101.20.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 3.27 per cent to USD 81.14 per barrel.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Friday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,902.46 crore, according to exchange data. According to Anuj Choudhary — Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, the Indian rupee appreciated on Monday on a surge in global equity markets and a decline in US Dollar. The dollar fell on Monday, extending Friday's losses on disappointing economic data from the US.
"Though labour market data remained tight, there were increasing expectations that the Federal Reserve may slow its pace of rate hike in the February Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)," Choudhary said.
The rupee is expected to trade with a slight positive bias amid risk-on sentiments and a weak greenback. However, a surge in crude oil prices may cap sharp upside movement, he said.
"Investors may remain cautious ahead of inflation data from India later this week. USD/INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 81.80 to Rs 82.80," he added.
