Rupee up 7 paise against USD on easing crude prices

Press Trust of India  |  Mumbai 

The on Monday managed to end 7 paise higher at 71.10 against the US dollar on increased selling of the greenback by exporters amid easing and uptrend in other emerging market currencies.

At the Foreign Exchange (forex), the opened on a firm note at 70.99 following dollar selling by exporters. However, the domestic pared the initial gains and finally settled at 71.10, up 7 paise over its last close.

The rupee Friday weakened by 10 paise to close at 71.17 against the US dollar.

"... fell on higher US and slower global growth. The strength in Asian currencies against American dollar also bode well for rupee as well," said V K Sharma, Head PCG and Capital Market Strategy,

Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading at USD 60.66 per barrel, lower by 1.59 per cent.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent down at 95.74 after US agreed on Friday to temporarily re-open the

Trump backed a deal to temporarily end the record-breaking government shutdown in America's history despite getting no funding for his controversial plan to build a wall along the US-border. The deal resolved the crippling 35-day closure but not the fight over his proposed border wall.

Going ahead, traders said the US and trade talks, Brexit parliamentary vote, FOMC monetary policy decision and India's interim budget are the key event to watch out for, which could bring big volatility in the Forex market this week.

Meanwhile, foreign funds purchased shares worth Rs 223.44 crore from the capital markets on a net basis, and domestic institutional investors also bought shares worth Rs 92.32 crore Monday, provisional data showed.

The benchmark BSE Sensex Monday plunged over 368 points to close at 35,656.70 due to across-the-board selling on the bourse. The NSE Nifty tumbled 119 points to end at 10,661.55 amid weak global cues.

The Financial Benchmark Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 71.1340 and for rupee/euro at 81.1482. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 93.8224 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 65.05.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First Published: Mon, January 28 2019. 18:10 IST