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| Photo Credit: C. Venkatachalapathy
The rupee witnessed range-bound trading against the U.S. dollar in early trade on September 18, weighed down by a negative trend in domestic equities, elevated crude oil prices and strong American currency.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.09 against the dollar, registering a rise of 7 paise over its previous close. The domestic unit also touched 83.13 against the American currency in initial trade.
On Friday, the rupee fell 13 paise to settle at 83.16 against the U.S. dollar.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.04% to 105.27.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 0.40% to $94.31 per barrel.
Forex traders said the depreciation in the rupee can be attributed to several factors, including elevated crude oil prices, strong US dollar, foreign fund outflows and a widening trade deficit.
India’s exports declined by 6.86% to $34.48 billion in August this year as against $37.02 billion in the same month last year, government data showed on Friday.
Imports too declined by 5.23% to $58.64 billion as against $61.88 billion recorded in August 2022.
Meanwhile, India’s forex reserves dropped by $4.992 billion to $593.904 billion for the week ended September 8, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday.
In the previous reporting week, the kitty rose by $4.039 billion to $598.897 billion.
In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 174.33 points or 0.26% to 67,664.30. The broader NSE Nifty fell 42.15 points or 0.21% to 20,150.20.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital market on Friday as they purchased shares worth ₹164.42 crore, according to exchange data.