Rupee up 41 per cent against dollar in morning trade

The Indian national rupee rose by 41 paise against the dollar this morning to reach 58.70 on the Interbank Foreign Exchange market on increased selling of the US currency by exporters and banks.

A slew of measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India to curb the slide of the rupee, and a weakening of the dollar against yen and other currencies in overseas markets on poor US data, also helped the Indian currency current to recover.

The rupee had gained 2 paise to close at 59.11 on Thursday.

Since January this year, the rupee has lost 6.58 per cent and is the second biggest loser among Asian currencies after the Japanese yen.  

The rupee advanced 1 per cent this week, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. It touched an intra-day high of 58.7025 on Friday, the strongest level since 19 June. The currency had plunged to an unprecedented 61.2125 on 8 July.

One-month implied volatility, a measure of expected moves in the exchange rate used to price options, fell 12 basis points this week to 11.67 per cent. The rate fell 8 basis points on Friday. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

Three-month onshore rupee forwards rose 0.5 per cent to 60.19 per dollar, the Bloomberg data show. Offshore non-deliverable contracts strengthened 0.6 per cent to 60.05.

Forwards are agreements to buy or sell assets at a set price and date. Non-deliverable contracts are settled in dollars.