Mumbai: The rupee was up against the US currency in the intra-day trade on Monday, helped by dollar inflows from foreign institutional investors and expectations that foreigners will continue to invest in the country. At 2.35pm the Indian currency was trading at 60.685 per dollar, up 0.40% from its previous close of 60.925 and near its intra-day highs of 60.6450 per dollar. The partially convertible currency had earlier opened at 60.855 a dollar. “There are inflows in the local stock market and we are also hearing about dollars coming in through deals in sectors like e-commerce, which has supported the rupee,� said a dealer with a French bank. India’s benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was trading at 22,046.98, up 1.34%, or 291.51 points, from the previous close and just off its lifetime high of 22,074.34. “The fact that the local stock market is doing well and the currency has also been stable for the last few months have helped in attracting more inflows,� the dealer quoted above said. Since January this year, the rupee has gained 1.82%, making it a favourite among emerging market currencies like the South Korean won and Taiwanese dollar which have lost 2.6% and 2.57%, respectively. It is up since touching an all-time low of 68.85 per dollar on 28 August 2013. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 80.168, up 0.08% from the previous close of 80.105. The 10-year bond was trading at 8.782%, from previous close of 8.795%. It opened at 8.788% and touched a high and a low of 8.788% and 8.777%, respectively. The India call money rate was at 9%, up 9.09% from previous close of 8.25%. It opened at 8.95 and touched a high and a low of 9% and 8.6%, respectively.

Source