The rupee climbed on Friday, tracking big gains in the local equities and a decline in the dollar after central banks in Europe unleashed measures to shore up money markets amid worries over the region's deteriorating debt crisis.
At 11:23 am (IST), the partially convertible Indian currency was at 49.11 per dollar after being as high as 48.9950 and as low as 49.1550. It had opened at 49.0450 versus a previous close of 49.3475.
The euro was set for its first weekly gain against the dollar in three weeks on optimism that monetary easing by the region's central banks coupled with recapitalisation of European banks will help stem the region’s debt crisis.
The Bank of England (BOE) on Thursday launched a second round of quantitative easing to pump-prime Britain's sluggish economy and the European Central Bank (ECB) threw another lifeline to banks by announcing new long-term liquidity enhancing measures.
The 17-nation euro held advance versus the yen after the ECB reintroduced yearlong loans for banks.
The euro traded at $1.3428 as of 6:01 a.m. in London from $1.3437 in New York yesterday, having risen 0.3% this week.
The common currency was traded at 102.86 yen from 103.09 yen yesterday, when it gained 0.6%. The dollar bought 76.62 yen from 76.72 yen.
The dollar has gained 6% in the past one month, the second-best performer among the 10 developed-nation currencies. The yen has gained 6.9% in the same period.
The yen was headed for a 0.5% gain against the dollar this week after the Bank of Japan (BOJ) today refrained from adding more monetary stimulus.
Asian currencies headed for their first weekly advance in a month, led by Malaysia’s ringgit, as hope of positive European action to contain the region’s debt crisis helped revive demand for emerging-market assets.
Global funds bought a total $403mn more of South Korean, Taiwanese and Thai shares than they sold yesterday, exchange data show.
The Bloomberg-JPMorgan Asia Dollar index, which tracks the region’s 10 most-active currencies (ex-yen), rose 0.3% this week.
Australia’s dollar rose 0.3% to 97.76 US cents, having gained 1.2% since Sept. 30. The New Zealand dollar rose 0.2% to 77.32 US cents. It has rallied 1.5% this week.
