Mumbai, Feb 13 (PTI) The rupee consolidated in a narrow range and settled for the day 5 paise lower at 90.66 against the US dollar on Friday, tracking the strength of the American currency in the overseas market and a negative trend in domestic equities.
Forex traders said rupee traded in a narrow range with a weakening bias as a firm dollar limited the upside for emerging market currencies including the rupee.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.69 against the US dollar, and touched an intraday high of 90.60 and a low of 90.79 during the day.
At the end of the trading session, the domestic unit was quoted at 90.66, lower by 5 paise over its previous close.
On Thursday, the rupee appreciated 17 paise to settle at 90.61 against the US dollar.
“Risk sentiment has been dampened by renewed concerns over the disruptive impact of AI across industries. Safe haven assets rallied,” IFA Global said in a research note.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.10 per cent higher at 97.01.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.04 per cent lower at USD 67.49 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex tumbled 1,048.16 points to settle at 82,626.76, while the Nifty dropped 336.10 points to 25,471.10.
On Friday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 7,395.41 crore, according to exchange data.
RBI data released on Friday showed India’s forex reserves dropped by USD 6.711 billion to USD 717.064 billion during the week ended February 6. In the previous reporting week, the kitty had jumped by USD 14.361 billion to an all-time high of USD 723.774 billion.
Meanwhile, India on Thursday introduced a new series of its Consumer Price Index (CPI), the benchmark that tracks retail inflation, starting with January data at 2.75 per cent.
The new series covers a higher number of goods and services and re-aligns the weightage of various constituents. Along with data collected from more rural and urban markets, the reading is expected to reflect the quality of data used in formulating monetary and fiscal policies. PTI DRR HVA
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