Re settles flat at 83.39/USD

The rupee stayed almost flat and settled 1 paisa lower at 83.39 against the US dollar on Monday as investors remained on the sidelines ahead of the Fed Meeting. Forex traders said the bullish equity market and sustained inflow of foreign funds failed to boost investor sentiment. The US Federal Reserve is expected to announce its monetary policy decision later this week. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.39 against the greenback and touched the intra-day peak of 83.37 before settling at 83.39, 1 paisa higher from its previous close. On Friday, the rupee fell 4paise to close at 83.40 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 103.67.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 0.41 per cent to $75.53 per barrel. On the domestic equity market front, Sensex advanced 102.93 points, or 0.15 per cent, to settle at a new high of 69,928.53 points. The Nifty advanced 27.70 points, or 0.13 per cent, to a fresh closing peak of 20,997.10 points. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital markets on Friday as they bought shares worth Rs3,632.30 crore, according to exchange data. On Friday, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) kept the benchmark repurchase rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent and retained the retail inflation projection for the current fiscal at 5.4 per cent.