Rupee strengthens on Greek debt

Mumbai India's rupee strengthened the most in five weeks as an agreement among private investors to swap 95.7 per cent of their Greek government bonds spurred demand for higher-yielding assets. The currency pared its weekly decline as the BSE India Sensitive Index of shares snapped a three-day drop. Still, the rupee completed a second weekly loss on concern the ruling Congress party's loss in a regional election will derail economic reforms. The Reserve Bank of India is scheduled to review monetary policy on March 15 and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee will announce budgetary proposals the next day. "There is positive sentiment today from Europe, which is reflected in the equity markets and is boosting the rupee," said Ravi Ranjit, chief manager at Federal Bank in Mumbai. "However, we might see volatility increase a bit given the major domestic policy events next week." The currency advanced 0.9 per cent, the biggest gain since February 3, to 49.8550 per dollar in Mumbai, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It's down 0.7 per cent for the week. The market was shut on Thursday for a local holiday. The rupee will strengthen to 47 a dollar by the end of the year as foreigners will buy more of the nation's shares, according to Credit Suisse AG. One-month implied volatility, a measure of exchange-rate swings used to price options, was unchanged at 10.25 per cent.