<p>Strengthening for the third day in a row, the rupee today shot up by 42 paise against the dollar to end at 54-level for the first time in nearly three weeks, amid sustained FII inflows and a surprise rate cut by China.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The rupee commenced higher at 55.14 a dollar from the overnight close of 55.36 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, and immediately touched a low of 55.30 on some dollar demand from oil importers as crude oil hovered around the USD 85 per barrel.<br /><br />However, the currency bounced back to breach 55-mark to a high of 54.92 before concluding at 54.94, its highest closing since May 18. This was rise of 0.76 per cent or 42 paise.<br /><br />In the last three sessions, the rupee has gained 71 paise at a time local stocks, represented by Sensex, rose over 600 points with the 30-share index rising by 195 points today.<br /><br />Apart from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) buying shares worth over Rs 675 crore today, forex dealers said the rate cut in China in late trade further boosted a revival in global risk-taking sentiment.<br /><br />The euro hit a 10-day high of USD 1.2601 against the dollar and the Australian dollar rose to new three-week high of USD 0.9993 after China's central bank unexpectedly cut benchmark one-year lending rate by 25 bps to 6.31 per cent. The deposit rate was also lowered by 25 bps to 3.25 per cent.<br /><br />The rate cut by China helped the rupee, said Hemal Doshi, Chief Currency Strategist, Geojit Comtrade.<br /><br />"Factors like euro strengthening against dollar and FIIs buying shares have contributed to the appreciation of rupee," said T S Srinivasan, GM (Treasury), Indian Overseas Bank.<br />Expectations of more easing from Federal Reserve weakened the dollar as it down 0.3 per cent against a basket of currencies.</p>
<p>Strengthening for the third day in a row, the rupee today shot up by 42 paise against the dollar to end at 54-level for the first time in nearly three weeks, amid sustained FII inflows and a surprise rate cut by China.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The rupee commenced higher at 55.14 a dollar from the overnight close of 55.36 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, and immediately touched a low of 55.30 on some dollar demand from oil importers as crude oil hovered around the USD 85 per barrel.<br /><br />However, the currency bounced back to breach 55-mark to a high of 54.92 before concluding at 54.94, its highest closing since May 18. This was rise of 0.76 per cent or 42 paise.<br /><br />In the last three sessions, the rupee has gained 71 paise at a time local stocks, represented by Sensex, rose over 600 points with the 30-share index rising by 195 points today.<br /><br />Apart from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) buying shares worth over Rs 675 crore today, forex dealers said the rate cut in China in late trade further boosted a revival in global risk-taking sentiment.<br /><br />The euro hit a 10-day high of USD 1.2601 against the dollar and the Australian dollar rose to new three-week high of USD 0.9993 after China's central bank unexpectedly cut benchmark one-year lending rate by 25 bps to 6.31 per cent. The deposit rate was also lowered by 25 bps to 3.25 per cent.<br /><br />The rate cut by China helped the rupee, said Hemal Doshi, Chief Currency Strategist, Geojit Comtrade.<br /><br />"Factors like euro strengthening against dollar and FIIs buying shares have contributed to the appreciation of rupee," said T S Srinivasan, GM (Treasury), Indian Overseas Bank.<br />Expectations of more easing from Federal Reserve weakened the dollar as it down 0.3 per cent against a basket of currencies.</p>