On Tuesday, the rupee fell 9 paise to 82.84 (provisional) against the US dollar, driven down by safe-haven dollar demand and a flat trend in domestic stocks.
According to economists, foreign fund outflows weighed on the local currency as well.
The local unit opened at 82.80 versus the dollar on the interbank foreign exchange and concluded the day at 82.84 (provisional), down 9 paise from its previous closing.
During the session, the local unit reached a high of 82.78 and a low of 82.85.
The rupee had finished at 82.75 per dollar on Monday.
The Indian rupee fell on Tuesday due to a stronger dollar and a dismal tone in domestic markets. FII outflows weighed on the rupee as well. However, Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, observed that low crude oil prices buffered the loss.
The US dollar rose on safe-haven demand as a result of global risk aversion and hawkish Fed comments. Additional rate hikes, according to US Federal Reserve official Michele Bowman, will likely be required to bring inflation to its target of 2%, Choudhary noted.
“We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias on strong US dollars and risk aversion in global markets. Selling pressure by foreign investors may also weigh on the rupee,” Choudhary said.
Traders may be cautious ahead of the RBI’s monetary policy announcement and US inflation data on Thursday. The RBI is expected to maintain its current monetary policy. Traders should also keep an eye out for US trade balance statistics. “In the near term, we expect the USDINR spot to trade in the range of 82.40 to 83.30,” Choudhary added.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the US currency against a basket of six currencies, increased 0.41 percent to 102.46.
The global oil benchmark, Brent crude futures, fell 1.73 percent to USD 83.86 per barrel.
On the domestic front, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 106.98 points, or 0.16 percent, to 65,846.50 points. The Nifty 50 index fell 26.45 points, or 0.13 percent, to settle at 19,570.85 points.
According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Monday, offloading shares worth Rs 1,892.77 crore.
Sourcd:FE