The Indian rupee posted its biggest weekly gain in over two months, aided by robust inflows and positive local shares, with dollar demand from oil importers keeping a lid on the rise. On Friday, the partially convertible rupee closed at 51.5350/5450 to the dollar after hitting 51.28, a level last seen on December 5. It closed at 51.60/61 on Thursday.
The rupee strengthened by 2.29 percent this week, its second successive week of gains, after adding 0.7 percent last week. One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 51.92, 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 51.7 on total volume of $4.4 billion.