Rupee Appreciates Around 3 Paise Against Dollar

Mumbai: The rupee appreciated on May 21 by around three paise on strengthening of non-dollar currencies against the dollar. The domestic currency opened at 40.75/77, touched an intra-day high of 40.53, a fresh nine-year high and finally closed at 40.67/68. On May 18, the rupee ended at 40.71/72. China''s central bank has widened the daily trading band of yuan against the dollar by 0.5 per cent (against 0.3 per cent). The rupee also gained due to strong FII inflows into the domestic equities. In forwards, the six-month premia closed at 4.08 per cent (4.51 per cent) and the 12-month ended at 3.66 per cent (3.97 per cent)