Mumbai, Dec 10: Rupee today ended higher at 49.00/02 against the US dollar with a gain of nearly 58 paise from its last finish of 49.60 on heavy selling pressure for dollars coupled with bullish trend at the local stocks markets. After the Bakri-Id holiday, Rupee opened at 49.23/24 and later fluctuated in a narrow range between 48.90 and 49.22 in intra day trade. Rupee strengthened past 49 per dollar this afternoon for the first time since November 17 as the share market rally raised hopes of foreign inflows, and lower non-deliverable forward rates also boosted sentiment. Later, the partially convertible rupee was at 48.98/49.00 per dollar. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today fixed the reference rate for US dollar at Rs 49.12 per unit, which fell by 10 paise from Monday's rate at Rs 49.22 per dollar. However, the reference rate for Euro rose by 38 paise at Rs 63.52 per unit from its last close of Rs 63.14 per unit, n RBI release said. Meanwhile, the six-month and annualised forward dollar premiums were firm by 3.40 (3.02) per cent and 2.34 (2.10) per cent respectively. The Rupee closed upward at 63.28/30 (63.80/82) per unit against the Euro. It closed at 72.44/46 (73.88/90) per unit against the Pound Sterling and at 52.66/68 (53.02/04) per hundred units aginst the Japanese Yen, brokers added.

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