The Indian rupee rose on Thursday, posting its biggest gain in two weeks after a sharp recovery in the euro and hopes of more monetary easing by the Federal Reserve spurred dollar selling from companies with long positions. "The time for expectation is over. If the government does not act, the rupee will get hurt," said Ramit Bhasin, head markets-India and South East Asia at RBS.
The partially convertible rupee closed at 55.52/53 per dollar, as per the SBI closing rate, marking a 1.2 percent gain from its close of 56.16/17 on Wednesday. The rupee rose to as high 55.5150 against the dollar in the session, the strongest since July 20. Three-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were trading at 56.54, while the one-month contract was around 55.88. In the currency futures market, the most-traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and United Stock Exchange all closed at around 55.57, with the total traded volume at around $6.9 billion.