Mumbai (PTI): Firm equity markets amid sustained capital inflows helped the Indian rupee to recover sharply by 32 paise to 48.37/38 against the American currency in late morning deals.

In quite trade at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) market, the domestic unit opened stronger at 48.48/50 a dollar and improved further to quote at 48.37/38 from overnight close of 48.69/70 a dollar.

Continuous rally in local equity markets for the fifth straight session today as well as revival of capital inflows mainly aided the rupee recovery.

The Indian benchmark sensex was up by nearly 80 points or 0.77 at 1015 hours today. Asian indices were also trading firm early this morning on expectations of early announcement of US government's another stimulus package to support the economy.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) pumped in over USD 131 million in three trading days since January 1.

Meanwhile, global crude oil prices were trading near USD 48.5 a barrel in Asian trade on Wednesday.