Mumbai, May 2 (PTI) The rupee pared initial gains to settle almost flat at 76.48 against the US dollar on Monday as subdued domestic equities offset the impact of a sharp decline in global crude oil prices.
A strengthening American currency overseas and continuous foreign fund outflows also weighed on the domestic unit, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened slightly higher at 76.48 against the American dollar and gained further ground to trade at 76.35. It oscillated between a high of 76.35 and a low of 76.51 during the session.
The rupee finally settled at 76.48 against the dollar, showing a marginal gain of 2 paise.
“Rupee traded in range on 76.35-76.55 amid range trade in dollar index around USD 103.50. Weak crude prices and weak commodity prices helped the rupee from lower levels but FII selling in capital markets added pressure on the rupee,” Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities said.
“The rupee has a stiff resistance at 76.25 which is also 20dma and support every time falls near 76.75. Either side break will provide momentum, till then it’s expected to trade in range.” The greenback traded below its 20-year high level against a basket of global currencies on expectations of a 50 basis point hike in interest rate by the US Federal Reserve this week.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, surged 0.43 per cent to 103.37.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, declined 2.61 per cent to USD 104.34 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 84.88 points or 0.15 per cent lower at 56,975.99, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 33.45 points or 0.20 per cent to 17,069.10.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Friday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 3,648.30 crore, as per the exchange data. PTI BAL MR MR
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