The rupee rose to fresh three-week highs on Friday,on course for its best week so far in 2009,as a revival in foreign equity inflows underpinned sentiment. At 10:31 a.m.,the partially convertible rupee was at 50.10/11 per dollar,its highest since Feb. 26,and 0.5 per cent above Thursday's close of 50.3650 It rose as far as 50.02,at which level it had gained 2.9 per cent this week. If sustained it would be the best weekly performance since Nov. 7 when it advanced 3.8 per cent. "Although the fundamentals continue to remain weak,the short-term trend seems to be positive at least till May-June," J. Moses Harding,head of global capital markets at IndusInd Bank,wrote in a note. A huge pipeline of inflows has reduced the demand for forward dollars and the higher forward premium in the 1-3 months is attracting exporter dollar selling interest,he said. Norway's Telenor is buying a controlling stake in Unitech Wireless in a 61.2 billion rupee ($1.2 billion) deal,and the first payments were due this week. The rupee has gained 3 per cent from a lifetime low of 52.2 hit earlier this month,helped by a rising stock market. Data showed foreign investors bought $87.7 million of shares on Wednesday,a day after buying $110.1 million,which was their biggest one-day purchase since Jan. 6. They are,however,net sellers of more than $2 billion so far in 2009. The dollar edged higher on Friday,but still headed for its biggest weekly fall in 24 years on fears it will lose its status as the world's reserve currency,while oil prices ceded ground after a recent rally. One-month offshore non-deliverable forwards were quoting at 50.56 One-month volatilities,a gauge for expectations of movements in the local unit,were around 10 per cent,down from 17 per cent earlier this month.
