Finance
On Tuesday, the rupee rose 15 paise to close at 82.64 (provisional) against the US dollar, ahead of the release of key domestic macroeconomic data.
Forex traders said the central bank’s intervention, combined with lower commodity prices, boosted the local currency.
The local currency opened at 82.69 against the US dollar on the interbank foreign exchange market and eventually settled at 82.64 (provisional) against the greenback, a gain of 15 paise from its previous close of 82.79.
Against the dollar, the rupee reached a high of 82.63 and a low of 82.75 during the trading session.
The dollar index, which measures the strength of the US currency against a basket of six currencies, increased 0.3% to 104.70.
Brent crude futures increased by 0.75 percent to USD 83.07 per barrel.
According to Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, the Indian rupee gained along with most regional currencies ahead of the important economic data release.
The central bank’s intervention, lower commodity prices and expectation of dollar inflows supported the local unit in Tuesday’s trade,” Parmar said.
In the near-term, spot USDINR is expected to trade between 83 to 82.50. The directional move of USDINR will depend on how the greenback performs among G-10 currencies and geopolitical updates.
“The historical seasonality of March month favours rupee bulls as it has gained in 7 out of the last 10 years, the average gains pegged at 0.54 per cent,” Dilip Parmar added.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 326.23 points, or 0.55 percent, to end at 58,962.12, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 88.75 points, or 0.51 percent, to 17,303.95.
According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Monday, offloading shares worth Rs 2,022.52 crore.
