At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened weak against the US dollar at 74.36, then fell to 74.43 against the greenback in opening deals and fell by 18 paise from the previous close.
The rupee fell by 18 paise to 74.43 against the US dollar in early trade on January 18, as a firmer US currency and higher crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiment.
Forex traders said sluggish domestic equities and dollar buying by banks from importers also pulled down the local unit.
At the interbank forex, the rupee opened weaker at 74.36 against the US dollar, then fell to 74.43 against the greenback in opening deals, registering a fall of 18 paise from its previous close.
On January 17, the rupee had closed down 10 paise at 74.25 against the US currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.11% to 95.36.
“USD looks strong and is expected to move higher once support is found at 94.50. There is market inflow which will keep the rupee depreciation slow as we approach the Federal Open Market Committee. [FOMC] meeting on January 26 and Union Budget on February 1,” said Anil Kumar Bhansali, head of treasury, Finrex Treasury Advisors. Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures jumped 0.94% to $87.29 a barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 160.49 points or 0.26% lower at 61,148.42, while the broader NSE Nifty was trading 77.50 points or 0.42% lower at 18,230.60.
Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital markets on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 855.47 crore, according to exchange data. PTI Bali
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