MUMBAI: The rupee extended its rally on Thursday afternoon soaring to new 15-month highs backed by large dollar sales by foreign banks, but buying of the US unit by importers and a weak sharemarket prevented a sharper rise.
At 2:25 p.m., the partially convertible rupee was trading at 45.69/70 per dollar after hitting 45.55 earlier, its strongest since Sept. 23, 2008, and above its previous close of 45.85/86.
"There is large dollar selling by foreign banks, almost everyone is a seller today. Only some oil buying is seen," a senior dealer with a foreign bank said.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 45.62/72, marginally stronger than the onshore spot rate.
Domestic shares were trading down 0.6 percent as resistance crept in after they scaled a 22-month peak in the previous session and on muted Asian cues.
In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were quoting at 45.6875 and 45.6850 respectively, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $4.4 billion.
