Rupee jumps 33 paise to close at 66.22 vs USD

Rising for the second straight day, the rupee today advanced by another 33 paise to close at 66.22 on sustained selling of US dollars by banks and exporters in view of weaker American currency in the overseas market.

Persistent foreign capital inflows also boosted the rupee value against the dollar, a forex dealer said.

The rupee resumed higher at 66.27 as against the Monday's level of 66.55 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market and hovered in a range of 66.35 and 66.10 per dollar before finishing at 66.22, showing a gain of 33 paise or 0.50 percent.

The rupee has gained by 42 paise or 0.63 percent in two days.

Meanwhile, the RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 66.2406 and euro at 75.2758.

In cross-currency trades, the rupee dropped against the pound sterling to close at 95.22 from 94.33 on Monday.

It also moved down against the euro to 75.30 per euro from 75.26 per euro previously.

However, the domestic currency recovered against the yen to 60.64 per 100 yens from 61.49 previously.

The dollar index was down 0.09 per cent against a basket of six currencies in the late afternoon trade.

The dollar was trading lower against the yen in the global market today, as investors bought into the perceived safety of the Japanese currency following weakness in Asian stock markets and oil prices.

Investors have witnessed rapidly changing risk sentiment since the beginning of the week, when demand for the yen increased as a safe haven after major global oil producers failed to agree to a production freeze Sunday.