MUMBAI: The Indian rupee rallied to its highest level in seven months as foreign investors continued to buy into both equities and debt, even as most other Asian currencies fell after surprisingly weak Chinese trade data.

Strong dollar selling by custodian banks on behalf of foreign investors forced exporters to also step up their greenback sales.

However, momentum could wane in the near-term for the rupee ahead of consumer inflation and industrial output data due on Wednesday. Trade data could also be released this week, although no date has been fixed yet.

The rupee closed at 60.85/86 per dollar compared with 61.08/09 on Friday. The unit rose as high as 60.79, its strongest since Aug. 12.

The rupee benefited after Indian shares again hit all-time highs on Monday, although both the BSE and NSE indexes ended the day with only slight gains.

Foreign investors bought a net 25.77 billion rupees ($420.7 million) of shares on Friday, their biggest daily purchase since Dec. 9. That marked their 16th consecutive buying session for a net total of about $1.4 billion.

For the year, overseas funds have bought a net $852.10 million in equities and $5.6 billion in debt.