MUMBAI: The rupee extended gains on Friday afternoon as a 4 percent rise in the domestic share market helped ease outflow worries with the
dollar's drop against some Asian currencies also boosting the local unit.
At 2:20 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was at 51.62/64 per dollar, stronger than Thursday's close of 51.88/90.
Indian shares extended their rise to more than 4 percent as investor confidence was bolstered by a jump in other Asian markets following positive news from the United States.
A sustained stocks rally could revive foreign portfolio inflows and help the rupee. Foreign funds have sold a net $2.3 billion worth of shares so far in 2009, after offloading more than $13 billion last year.
The dollar index, a guage of the U.S. unit's performance against the majors, was down 0.1 percent. The South Korean won jumped on Friday on investor hopes of a stabilising global economy.
In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contract on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at 51.7325 and 51.7350 respectively, with the total traded volume on both exchanges at about $506 million.
