The Indian rupee was trading strong by 12 paise at 66.55 led by the RBI monetary policy announcement.

The central bank on Tuesday kept the key benchmark rates unchanged, a stance which was widely expected by various stakeholders, including economists, bankers and fixed income market players, in the backdrop of the impending hike by the US Fed in its policy signalling rate.

The rupee opened stronger at 66.53 against the previous close of 66.67 after the government data showed stronger-than-estimated gross domestic product (GDP) and improvement in fiscal deficit data for the September quarter.

It hovered in a range of 66.59 and 66.43 before being quoted at 66.55 at 4.25 pm local time.

The latest data released by the statistics department on November 30 showed India’s GDP growth was at 7.4per cent in the September quarter compared with 7 per cent in the June quarter as measured at market prices.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 100.03, down 0.15 per cent from its previous close of 100.17.