The Indian rupee opened on a flat note and inched 4 paise higher to 74.39 against the U.S. dollar in opening trade on August 11, amid a negative trend in domestic equities.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 74.43 against the dollar, then inched 4 paise higher to 74.39.
On August 10, the rupee had settled at 74.43 against the U.S. dollar.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.25% to $70.45 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.03% at 93.08.
Forex traders said foreign fund outflows and a negative trend in domestic equities is likely to weigh on the local unit.
On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 218.9 points or 0.40% lower at 54,335.76, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 68.25 points or 0.42% to 16,211.85.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth ₹178.51 crore, as per exchange data.
“The current crop of IPOs is not showing interest from FPIs so flows are limited. Exporters to wait for 74.50 to sell, while importers to buy near 74.30 and below. Tapering issue to continue as we await for the U.S. CPI data this evening,” said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury, Finrex Treasury Advisors.