Rupee strengthens by 23 paisa against dollar

Mumbai, Sep 7 (PTI) The Indian rupee Monday strengthened
by 23 paisa to 48.65/66 against the US currency, extending
gains to the fourth straight day, as firm local stock markets
raised hopes of capital inflow amid weak dollar overseas.

The activity at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex)
market, however, was at a low ebb in the absence of any major
market moving factors.

The domestic currency was trapped in a small range of
48.63 to 48.76 during the day after resuming firm at 48.74/75
a dollar against its last close of 48.88/89 a dollar.

Dealers said the rupee drew support from bullish trend in
the stock markets which surged for the second consecutive day
raising expectations about more portfolio inflows into equity.

They said the exchange market witnessed little dollar
buying or selling throughout the day.

The dollar and the yen weakened in early trade on the
London Exchange.

Indian benchmark Sensex soared by another 327 points or
2.09 per cent to its 15-month high while Asian indices gained
1.0 per cent to 2.0 per cent Monday. MORE PTI