The rupee gathered momentum, after a weak start in the morning, to close at 55.38 per dollar.
The rupee opened at 56.02, about 38 paise lower than Thursday’s close. It touched a low of 56.07, before the recovery began.
The deadline for exporters to bring back 50 per cent of the money held in Exchange Earner's Foreign Currency ended yesterday. The RBI Governor, Dr D. Subbarao, had said yesterday that the central bank will do whatever needed to check the rupee’s slide.
Asked to comment on the recovery of the rupee today, Dr Brinda Jagirdar, General Manager and Head of the Economic Research Department, State Bank of India , said, "This is no longer only a rupee or India story. There has been some positive news on the global front because of the possibility of a settlement on the Greek issue." On whether the recovery in the rupee's strength would be sustainable, she said that a couple of major projects taking off would help improve sentiments and help attract capital flows once again into the country.
Call rates, G-Secs
Call rates closed at 8.10 per cent. It touched a high of 8.30 per cent in intraday trade.
The benchmark 8.79 per cent 2021 government bond closed at Rs 101.79. It touched a high of Rs 101.88 in intraday trade.