KARACHI, Dec 1: The rupee, on Wednesday, gained 13 paisa or 0.2 per cent value against the US dollar in the inter-bank on heavy selling of export proceeds amidst low demand for foreign exchange from importers.

Bankers said the rupee closed at 59.57 a dollar, up from 59.70 on Tuesday despite a $10 million demand from a state-run organization for outward payment. The State Bank, as usual, sold dollars to the banks for financing oil imports.

Bankers estimated the sale at around $15 million. But they said the central bank did not sell additional dollars to any corporate including the state-run organization that made an outward payment of $10 million.

In November, the central bank sold $400 million to banks to pay for oil imports. This helped the rupee recover 167 paisa or 2.7 per cent of its value against the dollar during the month.

Senior bankers say that exporters have accelerated selling export proceeds and importers have slowed down forward buying of dollars anticipating that the rupee may rise further.

Before making a swift recovery in November, the rupee had shed 5.5 per cent value against the dollar in July-October as the trade deficit had increased four fold to $1.432 billion during this period. This prompted the central bank to start selling dollars for oil imports from November 1.