Rupee appreciated by nine paise to 81.58 vs the US dollar on Tuesday amid weakness in value of the greenback against a basket of six peers. However, rise in global crude oil prices capped the gains. The currency settled at 81.67 vs the dollar on Monday.
The dollar index — which measures the American currency against the yen, the pound, the Canadian dollar, the Swedish krona, the Swiss franc and the euro — was last trading lower at 106.2.
Crude oil prices surged on Tuesday, reversing the loses from the previous session. Brent crude futures jumped almost two percent to $85.6 per barrel at the last count, rebounding from the 10-month low level hit in the previous session. WTI futures too rose 1.3 percent to $78.2 per barrel at the last count.
"USD-INR is tightly caught between the 81.5-81.9 range for intraday over the past couple of sessions. The annualised USD-INR premiums have fallen below a crucial two percent mark for the first time in over 10 years amid the fall in the overnight cash swap rate, thereby giving little incentive to the exporters," said Amit Pabari, Managing Director at CR Forex.
Indian equity benchmarks BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty50 started Tuesday's session lower before climbing to fresh lifetime highs. The headline indices ended at record closing highs on Monday.
