The Indian rupee today (December 17) extended its gains against the greenback for the third day in succession by closing higher by another 25 paise at 47.66/67 though it could not keep up with the surge it saw in early trade.
The domestic unit had gained over 60 paise in the morning on hopes of fresh capital inflows following rate cut by the US Federal Reserve amid weak dollar overseas. There has been intense anticipation of inflow of dollars for the past three days which saw the rupee rose by 79 paise or 1.63 per cent.
The dollar falling against its major rivals after the rate cut also bossted the rupee sentiment. Besides, the demand for the dollar from importers and oil refiners also waned, helping the rupee rise.
In choppy trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit opened strong at 47.35/38 a dollar and touched a high of 47.22 on expectations of more portfolio inflows amid a rally in Asian stock markets following sharp surge on Wall Street yesterday.
However, year-end dollar short-coverings by exporters amid fall in local equity market trimmed the gains and the local unit settled the day 47.66/67 per dollar, higher by 25 paise from previous close.
Meanwhile, the Indian benchmark Sensex today tumbled by 262 points or 2.62 per cent while most of the Asian indices ended in the green today.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) have slowed down their selling and were buyers for last few days, which also partly aided the rupee sentiment.