India’s rupee rose for a fourth day as Asian stock gains increased optimism overseas funds will return to buy emerging-market assets. The currency headed for a second week of gains as the MSCI Asia Pacific Index of shares gained. The Indian currency also gained as offshore non-deliverable forward contracts showed traders reduced bets for how far the rupee will decline in a month. “The global equity markets appear to be less volatile which will help the rupee,” said Vikas Babu, a currency trader at state-owned Andhra Bank in Mumbai. “I expect flows in India to rise and the rupee to advance in the near term.” The rupee rose 0.3 percent this week to 48.73 a dollar as of 9:45 a.m. in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It may advance to 48.50 in a week, Babu said. The median estimate of 25 strategists and economists surveyed by Bloomberg is for the rupee to rise to 47.95 by the end of the year. Offshore contracts indicate traders bet the rupee will trade at 48.84 to the dollar in a month, compared with expectations for 49.05 a week ago. Forwards are agreements in which assets are bought and sold at current prices for future delivery. Non-deliverable contracts are settled in dollars rather than the local currency.

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