Mumbai, Feb 4 (PTI) The rupee snapped its three-day losing streak by recovering 19 paise to close at 74.69 against the US dollar on Friday tracking weaker greenback against key rivals overseas.
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened strong at 74.71 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.68 and a low of 74.77. It finally settled at 74.69, a rise of 19 paise over its previous close.
In the previous session, the rupee had settled at 74.88 against the greenback.
During the week, the rupee has appreciated by 37 paise against the American currency.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against the basket of six currencies, fell 0.09 per cent to 95.29.
According to Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, “The rupee recovered the lost ground after three days of downtrend on the back of retreat in dollar index as two major central banks — European Central Bank (ECB) and Bank of England (BoE) — turned hawkish.” “Rupee has been under pressure after the Union Budget, which focused on growth with higher borrowings,” Parmar said, adding that going ahead, the direction of the local unit will be decided by the fund flows and crude oil prices.
Higher borrowings will lead to higher supply of bonds and lower demand that will add pressure on bond markets as well, he added.
Recent rally in crude oil prices will make the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) rethink its accommodative stance in the upcoming policy meeting with major central banks turning hawkish, Parmar said.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 143.20 points or 0.24 per cent lower at 58,644.82, while the broader NSE Nifty slipped 43.90 points or 0.25 per cent to 17,516.30.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 1.44 per cent higher at USD 92.42 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,597.54 crore, as per stock exchange data. PTI DRR MKJ
