The Indian rupee rose to a 4-1/2 month high on Thursday, breaching the psychological level of 53 to the dollar, on strong capital inflows, with further gains expected after the government stuck to its borrowing target for the fiscal year. The government said after the close of markets it will stick to its fiscal second-half borrowing plans of 2 trillion rupees and will not exceed the budgeted borrowing via bonds.
Dealers are seeing large flows into the forex market in recent sessions, primarily driven by large foreign fund inflows into Indian equities after a slew of fiscal and economic reforms announced by the government. "Foreign banks sold heavily on custodian inflows. The supply perception is improving and stop-losses are getting triggered with the rupee appreciation," said Subramanian Sharma, director at Greenback Forex.
"If the dollar/rupee closes the quarter below 53.20 tomorrow, I expect another 1-2 percent gains for the rupee." The partially convertible rupee rose to 53.01/02 to the dollar as per State Bank of India closing rate from Wednesday's close of 53.51/52.
It rose to as high as 52.99 in intraday trade, it strongest since May 10. USD/INR 1-month non-deliverable forwards were last trading at 53.24. In the currency futures market, the most-traded near-month dollar/rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange all closed at around 53.27 with a total traded volume of around $4.7 billion.