Snapping a two-day losing streak, the rupee marginally gained to 60.93 on Thursday against the dollar from Wednesday’s close of 60.95 due to flat equity markets ahead of key data points due later in the week.
The domestic unit opened stronger by 10 paise at 60.85 per dollar due to dollar selling by banks and exporters. The unit strengthened to 60.71 during the first session of trading.
However, capital outflows and weaker Asian currencies pushed the rupee to 60.94 per dollar towards the end of the trading session. The rupee had depreciated by over one per cent over two days.
The markets will watch out for the CPI inflation data due to be released on Friday. Further, traders will eye the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meet next week. A hawkish policy statement will impact emerging markets like India negatively while the Fed's sooner-than-expected cut may prove to bring large foreign inflows into these countries.
Call rates rise; G-Sec yields drop
The interbank call money rate, the rate at which banks borrow short term funds from one another, ended higher at 7.70 per cent from the previous close of 7.30 per cent.
The 8.40 per cent government security maturing in 2024, rose to Rs 99.28 from Rs 99.04, while its yield softened to 8.50 per cent from Wednesday’s close of 8.54 per cent.