Rupee ends marginally higher at 64.80 against dollar

Continuing its rising streak for the fourth straight session, the rupee on Monday ended marginally higher against the American currency at 64.80 on selling of dollars by banks and exporters in view of firm trend in equity market.

"Persistent foreign capital inflows mainly boosted the rupee value against the dollar," a forex dealer said. The domestic unit opened higher at 64.77 per dollar as against last Friday's closing level of 64.81 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market. Later, it fell afterwards on some dollar demand by importers to 64.85, but recovered immediately to 64.73 on fag-end dollar selling from banks and exporters before ending at 64.80 per dollar, showing a mere gain of one paise or 0.02 per cent. It has gained by 38 paise or 0.57 per cent in four days.

The domestic unit hovered in a range of 64.85 and 64.73 during the morning deals. The dollar index was traded at 0.17 per cent higher in the late afternoon trade against a basket of six currencies. Oil prices slipped in early Asian trade, wiping out some of the previous session's gains, as investors digested the Chinese GDP data for the third quarter.

In the overseas market, the US dollar rose against major rivals on Monday after a reading of Chinese gross domestic product came in at a better-than-expected third-quarter rate. The Chinese government said gross domestic product grew 6.9 per cent compared with an expected 6.8 per cent in a Wall Street Journal poll of analysts, though it was the slowest growth rate since 2009.