Rupee touches near-decade high in early trade

Rupee moved towards a near-decade high of 39.18 against the US dollar during morning trade, driven higher by fresh dollar sales from exporters in anticipation of the currency's continued appreciation.

In active trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the local currency resumed firm at 39.25/26 a dollar from overnight close of 39.30/31 a dollar and later rallied to a high of 39.18/19 per dollar in line with strong Asian equity markets in early trade.

Later, however, rupee fell to the opening level of 39.25/26 after the central bank made heavy dollar purchases in a bid to cap the currency's surge, forex dealers said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is active in the exchange market for the last few days and has bought dollar to contain the rupee's sudden rise. The RBI purchases in September were estimated to about USD 16 billion.

Rupee is expected to rule steady during the day in the light of sagging equity markets.