Mumbai, Nov 17 (PTI) The rupee declined by 3 paise to 83.26 against the US dollar on Friday as a firm greenback in the overseas markets and losses in domestic equities weighed on investor sentiment.
Global crude oil prices trading near four-month lows helped the rupee restrict losses, forex dealers said.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened flat at 83.23 against the US currency following overnight losses in crude oil prices. The local unit moved in a tight range of 83.23 to 83.28 in the day trade.
The currency finally closed lower by 3 paise at 83.26 against the dollar.
The local unit settled at 83.23 against the greenback on Thursday.
The rupee declined marginally as the dollar index remained within a range near 104.10, Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst at LKP Securities, said.
“Broadly, the rupee has been moving within the range of 82.90-83.35, with the RBI interventions preventing it from falling below the 83.35 levels while facing resistance around 82.90-83.00,” Trivedi said.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, touched a high of 104.53 before edging lower by 0.11 per cent at 104.23 in afternoon trade.
“Indian rupee depreciated…today on weak domestic markets and corporate demand for US Dollar,” Anuj Choudhary – Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, said.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, recovered from overnight losses to trade higher by 0.54 per cent at USD 77.84 per barrel. Indian basket oil futures were down 0.85 per cent at USD 83.09 per barrel.
Brent crude futures for December delivery plunged up to 5 per cent to a four-month low of USD 77.42 per barrel on Thursday as weak jobs data from the US led to worries about global oil demand.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex declined by 187.75 points to settle at 65,794.73, while Nifty dropped 33.40 points to settle at 19,731.80 in a volatile trade.
According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers in the capital market on Friday as they sold shares worth Rs 477.76 crore.
“We expect the rupee to trade with a slight positive bias on weak US dollars and weak crude oil prices. However, the weak tone in Asian markets and Dollar demand may cap a sharp upside. Traders may take cues from housing starts and building permit data from the US,” Choudhary said. PTI MR BAL
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