Rupee appreciates by 19 paise

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic currency opened sharply higher at 49.03/04 a dollar against last Wednesday`s close of 49.34/35 and immediately touched a high of 48.90. Forex dealers attributed early sharp rise in the rupee value to smart rise in local equities. The Indian benchmark sensex was up by over 555 points in morning trade. However, late dollar demand from importers and some banks weighed on the rupee and it fell back to a low of 49.22 before concluding at 49.15/16, a rise of 0.39 percent.

The sensex today closed higher by 440.13 points or 2.79 percent after crashing by 905.66 points or 5.42 percent in straight last four sessions. Mr. Pramit Brahmbhatt, CEO, Alpari Financial Services (India) said,"Indian rupee appreciated by about 0.4 percent against the dollar, as local equities closed up by almost 3 percent. Globally dollar also weakened against major rivals which helped rupee to perform."