The rupee ended 10 paise lower at 79.67 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, even as the equity market opened on a positive note. At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 79.66 against the greenback, then fell to 79.67, registering a fall of 10 paise over its previous close. The local unit also touched 79.64 against the dollar in opening deals. On Friday, the rupee had gained 12 paise to close at 79.57 against the US currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.23 per cent to 108.75. Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 1.49 per cent to $91.46 per barrel. Sriram Iyer said, “Markets are now awaiting India’s August inflation data, which is likely to rise to 6.90 per cent from 6.71 per cent in July, prompting RBI to hike interest rates more aggressively in the coming months.” The pressure to do it is increasing.” Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities. The dollar index fell further on Monday as investors await cues from US CPI data this week.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 243.2 points or 0.41 per cent higher at 60,036.34, while the broader NSE Nifty was up 76.55 points or 0.43 per cent at 17,909.90. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital markets on Friday as they bought shares worth Rs 2,132.42 crore, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, the country’s foreign exchange reserves declined by USD 3.007 billion to USD 561.046 billion in the week ended August 26, data from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) showed.
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