Mumbai, Feb 13: The rupee today gained 23 paise to close at 49.19/20 against the US dollar on sustained selling of the American currency by exporters amid weak overseas cues.
Forex dealers said continued foreign fund inflows into equities amid mild recovery in local stocks also aided the rupee sentiment.
The local unit moved between 49.12 and 49.54 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, before settling higher by 23 paise at 49.19/20 against the dollar.
The rupee's value was bolstered by dollar selling by exporters and some banks on expectations of further fall in the dollar's value overseas amid a sluggish trend overseas as the euro gained today, they said.
The gain in euro's value was aided by the Greek Parliament passing a package of austerity measures. The dollar index was down by over 0.3 per cent against a basket of currencies while New York crude oil was trading below USD 100 a barrel in European market today.
Meanwhile, the BSE benchmark index Sensex continued to move in and out of positive before settling up by a mere 24.15 points at 17,772.84.
The rupee premium for the forward dollar moved down further on continued receivings by exporters.
The benchmark six-month forward dollar premium payable in July finished weak at 160-162 paise from last weekend's close of 164-166 paise and far-forward contracts maturing in January also ended down at 285-1/2-287-1/2 paise from 289-291 paise.
The RBI has fixed the reference rate for the US dollar at 49.3180 and for euro at 65.3520.
The rupee improved further against the pound sterling to end at Rs 77.76/78 from last Friday's close of Rs 78.21/23 and also hardened against the euro to Rs 65.23/25 from Rs 65.46/48 previously.
It too strengthened against the Japanese yen to Rs 63.32/34 per 100 yen from last close of Rs 63.60/62.
