MUMBAI: The rupee extended gains in afternoon trade on Friday tracking higher regional peers, while a strong rupee in the offshore non-deliverable forwards also helped sentiment.
At 2:20 p.m. the partially convertible rupee was at 45.68/69 per dollar, off a high of 45.65, its strongest since Jan. 19 and above its previous close of 45.80/81 on Thursday.
Dealers said there would be strong resistance for the rupee to break 45.65, but if it did, the unit could then rise to 45.57 levels.
The Malaysian ringgit hit a six-week peak on Friday after the central bank raised interest rates, while the South Korean won climbed on better-than-expected U.S. retail sales and a drop in jobless claims.
The index of the dollar against six major currencies was also down 0.1 per cent.
One-month offshore non-deliverable forward contracts were quoted at 45.68/78, little changed from the onshore spot rate.
In the currency futures market, the most traded near-month dollar-rupee contracts on the National Stock Exchange and MCX-SX were both quoting at 45.7550, with the total traded volume on the two exchanges at about $3.2 billion.
