Rupee halts 2-day fall on soft dollar; up 8 paise at 66.79

\ Mumbai, Oct 28 (PTI) The rupee today staged a recovery\after two days of fall and ended 8 paise higher at 66.79\against the US currency on account of heavy dollar unwinding\by exporters ahead of an extended weekend.\ Besides, a suspected RBI intervention largely supported\the local currency, says a forex dealer.\ Moreover, speculative traders avoiding taking long\positions ahead of the next week\\’s US Fed meeting too weighed\on trade.\ At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the\domestic unit commenced on a bearish note at 66.90 following\the month-end demand for the American currency from importers\and banks.\ However, overcoming the highly volatile momentum, the\local currency quickly shrugged off the drifting trend and\traded rang-bound before making a strong recovery to hit a\fresh intra-day high of 66.76 in late afternoon deals.\ State-run lenders sold the greenback on behalf of the\Reserve Bank of India.\ It finally settled at 66.79, revealing a smart gain of\8 paise, or 0.12 per cent.\ In worldwide trade, the US dollar traded a bit soft\against all major emerging market currencies ahead of key\macro data outcome alongside the important third-quarter US\GDP figures.\ The overnight new home sales for September in the US came\in at their second highest level since the global financial\crisis, raising prospect of imminent Fed rate hike this year.\ The dollar Index, which measures its broader strength\against a basket of currencies, was down 0.14 per cent at\98.79 in the afternoon trade.\ The RBI today fixed the reference rate for the dollar at\66.8566 and euro at 72.9071.\ In cross-currency trades, the rupee recouped sharply\against the pound sterling to close at 80.99 from 81.55 and\and recovered against the euro to finish at 72.94 from 73.03\earlier.\ It also strengthened against the Japanese yen to end\at 63.43 from 63.76 per 100 yens yesterday. (MORE) PTI EDM RSU\\MKJ\