Rupee ends 18 paise higher at 54.70

Snapping a three-day string of losses, the Indian rupee on Thursday closed 18 paise higher at 54.70 on fag-end dollar sales by banks amid recovery in euro in overseas markets.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit resumed lower at 54.98 a dollar from Monday's close of 54.88.

Rupee quickly dropped further to a low of 55.08 on weakness in local equities and emergence of dollar demand from importers, mainly oil refiners.

However, late dollar sales by banks on behalf of their clients, helped the rupee bounce back to a high of 54.69, before concluding slightly better at 54.70 - a gain of 18 paise or 0.33 per cent. In past three trading sessions, rupee had fallen by 68 paise or 1.25 per cent.

"While the rupee was weak in the early stages due to dollar demand and weakness in Indian stocks, it recovered later on account of dollar sales and euro gains," said Dhanlaxmi Bank Executive Vice-President (Treasury) Srinivasa Raghavan.

The euro staged a partial recovery after hitting 2-month lows and the dollar index was quoting 0.01 per cent against a basket of six major global rivals in the overseas market.