The Indian rupee closed higher on Thursday as foreign funds continued to invest in local debt, though weak domestic shares and dollar demand from oil importers put a lid on gains. The Reserve Bank of India probably sold dollars around the 51.74 rupee level in late trading, which further supported the currency, traders said.
The rupee ended at 51.60/61 to the dollar, up from Wednesday's close of 51.90/91, rising as high as 51.52 after the suspected intervention. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 52.04, indicating some weakness in the short-term in the onshore spot rate. In the currency futures market, the most-traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange, the MCX-SX and the United Stock Exchange were all around 51.8 on total volume of $4.3 billion.