MUMBAI: In tandem with the upswing in equity markets, the rupee, after Monday's brief pause, on Wenesday shot up by 60 paise to end at a nearly
4-week high of 48.98/49.00 against the dollar on expectations of more capital inflows.
In fairly active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the local unit opened sharply higher at 49.18/20 a dollar from the previous close of 49.58/59.
Initially, it touched the day's low of 49.35 on some dollar buying by oil refiners.
But a spurt in the Sensex after the government unveiled a multi-crore stimulus package for the economy and dollar selling by banks on expectations of a further fall in the greenback helped the rupee to rally smartly, a forex dealer said.
Some stability in most of the Asian stock markets after the announcement of the stimulus packages by many developed as well as developing countries might have brought some relief in the market.
As a result, the Sensex flared up by another 492 points, or 5.37 per cent, while Asian indices ended the day with a gain between 2.0 per cent and 5.6 per cent.
Foreign funds were also buyers in the past few days and looking at the stability in the share markets, they expected to invest more at the current lower levels in the coming days, which also boosted the rupee sentiment.
The rupee breached the 49 level and touched a high of 48.89 before concluding the day at 48.98/49.00, a rise of 1.21 per cent.
