Indian rupee hits 15-month high

The Indian rupee rose to its highest in more than 15 months on Monday as demand was triggered by the dollar's fall on weak US payrolls data and expectations of steady rates in the United States. The partially convertible rupee ended at 45.34/35 per dollar, off an early high of 45.2850, its strongest since September 2008, but still 0.90 percent above Friday's close of 45.75/76.
"We had a lot of exporters coming and dumping the dollar, which pushed up the rupee. Tomorrow's movement would depend on where the dollar is and how the stocks open," said a senior trader with a foreign bank. One-month offshore non-deliverable forwards contracts were quoted at 45.27/37, little changed from the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at 45.4025 and 45.3975 respectively.