Rupee opens marginally lower at 72.58 per dollar

Indian rupee opened marginally lower at 72.58 per dollar on Friday against previous close of 72.52, amid selling seen in the domestic equity market. On March 18, rupee ended flat at 72.52 per dollar against previous close of 72.54.

At 10:06 IST, the Sensex was down 215.28 points or 0.44% at 49,001.24, and the Nifty was down 79.40 points or 0.55% at 14,478.50.

"The US Dollar is higher side as Treasury yields surged above 1.70% in expectation of the higher inflation. Technically, the USDINR future took the support of 72.40 levels which very strong levels," said Kshitij Purohit, Product Manager, Currency & Commodities at Capital Via Global Research.

Oil prices fell on Friday, extending losses for a sixth day as a new wave of COVID-19 infections wash across Europe, spurring new lockdowns and dampening hopes for a recovery in demand for fuels anytime soon.

The USDINR pair is likely to see some weakness from 72.40 levels as the dollar index is likely to strengthen further from current levels. On the higher side, we expect the pair to find immediate hurdle around 72.90 levels, said ICICI Direct.

The dollar-rupee March contract on the NSE was at Rs 72.59 in the last session. The open interest remained almost unchanged for the March series, it added.