Re reeling under pressure
Local unit falls 7ps to 83.35/$; USD-INR is expected to trade in the range of 83.10-83.60
Mumbai: The rupee declined 7 paise to close at 83.35 against the US dollar on Friday as a strengthening American currency overseas and a selloff in domestic equitiesweighedonlocalunit.
Besides, rising crude prices in the international market and risk-averse sentiment dragged the local unit down, forex traders said. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened strong at 83.30 and moved in the range of 83.30-83.36 during the session. The local currency finally settled at 83.35 against the dollar, registering a fall of 7paise from its previous close.
In the previous session, the rupee closed at 83.28 against the US dollar. “Indian Rupee declined slightly on weak domestic markets and a surge in crude oil prices. We expect the rupee to trade slightly weak on renewed geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and weakness in domestic equities. “Rising crude oil prices and FII outflows may further put pressure on the rupee. However, any intervention by the RBI may support the rupee at lower levels. We expect USD-INR to trade in the range of 83.10-83.60,” Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, said.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, increased 0.05 per cent to 105.49. On the domestic equity market front, Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs2,823.33 crore, according to exchange data.
