Rupee logs 1st loss in 4 sessions

Mumbai: The Indian rupee saw its first decline in four sessions on Thursday, depreciating by 8 paise to settle at 74.27 against the US dollar tracking weakness in Asian currencies and a lacklustre trend in domestic equities.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 74.28 against the US dollar and touched an intra-day high of 74.22 and a low of 74.33. It finally closed at 74.27 against the greenback, registering a fall of 8 paise over its previous close.

In the previous three sessions, the rupee had gained 45 paise over the US dollar. Forex traders said the rupee is trading in a narrow range as rising Covid-19 cases in the US and Europe offset positive sentiments surrounding the progress on the vaccine front.

American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said they have concluded phase 3 study of their mRNA-based Covid-19 vaccine candidate BNT162b2, meeting all primary efficacy endpoints. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.33 per cent to 92.62.

"The Indian rupee depreciated against the dollar giving up some of the gains from yesterday's session, tracking a broad decline in Asian currencies amid lacklustre risk appetite and strength of the US Dollar Index," said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities. Iyer further said that "the US Dollar Index rose this Thursday afternoon in Asian trade as investors shifted to the safe haven appeal of the greenback amid rising Covid-19 cases and deaths.

"On the domestic equity market front, the BSE benchmark Sensex closed 580.09 points lower at 43,599.96, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 166.55 points to 12,771.70.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,180.61 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.70 per cent to $44.03 per barrel. (PTI)