March 28, 2003	Friday	Muharram 24, 1424

MUMBAI, March 27: The Indian rupee gained for a third straight day on Thursday on the back of surging capital and trade inflows to end at a level not seen since September 12, 2001, the day after the attacks on the World Trade Centre.

The rupee closed 0.05 per cent higher at 47.5400/5425 per dollar, a 0.24 per cent rise over the past three days.

Dollar supplies just overwhelmed the market, with volumes surging as well, said a trader at a state-run bank.

Traders said the market appeared to have pushed concerns that the war in Iraq could be protracted and conflict’s impact on oil prices to the background for now.

The local currency had initially fallen to 47.5825 in the morning as traders covered short dollar positions taken on Wednesday.

Traders said several large companies had also heavily sold dollar forwards, punting on a bullish outlook for the rupee, which analysts estimated is undervalued against the dollar by about 1.7 per cent on a trade-weighted basis. —Reuters