Rupee gains 9 paise to close at 74.29 against US dollar

MUMBAI: The Indian rupee gained 9 paise and settled for the day at 74.29 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday, supported by a firm trend in domestic equities and weak American currency.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 74.32 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.22 and a low of 74.34.

It finally ended at 74.29 against the American currency, registering a rise of 9 paise over its previous close.

On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 74.38 against the US dollar.

"Indian rupee appreciated as global risk sentiments rebounded, while the safe-haven dollar declined reacting to the dovish Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)," Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities said, adding that FOMC outcomes favoured the risk sentiments as they are not in rush to scale back asset purchases at-least for next two meetings.

"Spot USDINR is expected to trade with negative bias following weaker dollar index, risk sentiment and strong dollar inflows from the initial public offering. The pair is expected to hold support at 74.15 and get resisted around 74.60," he noted.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, dipped 0.30 per cent to 92.04.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 209.36 points or 0.40 per cent higher at 52,653.07, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 69.05 points or 0.44 per cent to 15,778.45.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.39 per cent to USD 75.03 per barrel.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,274.77 crore, as per exchange data.