The rupee pared its initial gains and settled for the day 13 paise lower at 73.81 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday, tracking muted domestic equities.
At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit witnessed a highly volatile trading session. It opened at 73.45, pared the gains and finally closed at 73.81 against the greenback, registering a decline of 13 paise over its previous close of 73.68.
During the session, the local unit saw an intra-day high of 73.42 and a low of 73.82 against the American currency.
“Rupee scaled down by afternoon trade on Wednesday as local stocks indexes tanked mainly financial stocks and RBI bought dollar both in spot and futures. Weak stocks and RBI intervention kept rupee bulls at bay,” said Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst (Commodity & Currency) at LKP Securities.
According to Trivedi, 73.50 remains key support zone for USDINR.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.07% at 91.37.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth ₹ 3,242 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, according to exchange data.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 37.40 points or 0.08% lower at 44,618.04, while the broader NSE Nifty rose 4.70 points or 0.04% to 13,113.75.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.02% higher at USD 47.43 per barrel.