The rupee was trading marginally up by 9 paise at 61.54 against the dollar at 4.00 p.m. local time on mild dollar demand from banks and importers.
The rupee strengthened by 55 paise to 61.08 per dollar in the opening trade against the previous close of 61.63 on the back of weakening of the American currency due to lower-than-anticipated US jobs data.
On Tuesday, the dollar buying by a private chemical firm and state-run banks for meeting the Centre’s Defence payments, weighed on the domestic unit.
Non-farm payrolls data
In a report released on Tuesday, the US Department of Labour had said that non-farm payrolls rose by a seasonally adjusted 148,000 in September, below the expectations of an increase of 180,000.
Tapering of Fed stimulus
S. Srinivasaraghavan, Head of Treasury at Dhanlaxmi Bank, said the rupee is likely to strengthen during the week on the back of lower-than-expected US payrolls data, which is likely to delay the easing of the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying programme.
According to Abhishek Goenka, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of India Forex Advisors, "Indian rupee is seen gaining after concerns ease over US tapering plans which made the rupee to tumble by 24 per cent. The slight improvement in local fundamentals and continuous flows from FCNR and FIIs flow could further support the rupee."
Call rates, G-Secs
The inter-bank call money rate, the rate at which banks borrow from each other to meet their short-term fund requirements, opened higher at 9.05 per cent from the previous close of 9 per cent.
The 7.16 per cent government security, which matures in 2023, opened higher at Rs 91.05 from the previous close of Rs 90.68. The yields softened to 8.54 per cent from the previous close of 8.60 per cent.
