Rupee opens on a flat note against U.S. dollar in early trade

At the interbank foreign exchange, the Rupee opened at 83.15 against the dollar, then rose to 83.14, registering a rise of one paisa over its previous close.
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Rupee opened on a flat note and appreciated one paisa to 83.14 against the U.S. dollar in the morning session on January 24, amid a muted trend in domestic equities. Forex traders said the Rupee is trading with a slight negative bias amid selling pressure from foreign investors.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the Rupee opened at 83.15 against the dollar, then rose to 83.14, registering a rise of one paisa over its previous close. In the initial trade, the Rupee touched an early low of 83.16 against the U.S. dollar. On Tuesday, the Rupee had settled at 83.15 against the U.S. dollar.

“Rupee was weakened on January 23 as FPIs withdrew ₹3,115 crores from share markets after a 1.5% fall in indices. Wednesday’s opening may pave the way to a move beyond 83.20 although in-flows are still there to counter any major demand from FPIs,” said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.01% to $79.54 per barrel. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading marginally lower by 0.14% at 103.46.

“Dollar hovered near a six-week high of 103.53 as investors cemented expectations that the Fed Reserve would be in no hurry to cut rates in the face of a resilient U.S. economy,” Mr. Bhansali added.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 70.32 points or 0.10% higher at 70,440.87 points. The broader NSE Nifty rose 29.85 points or 0.14% to 21,268.65 points.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth ₹3,115.39 crore, according to exchange data.