Mumbai, Feb 3 (PTI) The rupee edged lower by 5 paise to log its third straight session of loss against the US dollar on Thursday as stronger greenback against key rivals and muted domestic equities weighed on forex market sentiment.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 74.84 against the American dollar, and later witnessed an intra-day high of 74.75 and a low of 74.92 against the greenback.
The local unit finally ended the day at 74.88, down 5 paise from the previous close of 74.83.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.22 per cent higher at 96.14.
Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities, said, “Rupee traded in a muted range around 74.85 as the dollar index and crude prices traded in small range… Rupee has seen resistance at 74.70 and support near 75.00 hence the range between this needs a break for direction of rupee trend.” Gaurang Somaiyaa, Forex & Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said, “Rupee traded in a narrow range and volatility remained low ahead of the important ECB and BoE policy statement that will be released today. On the domestic front, no major events are scheduled but both the central banks are likely to influence the move for major crosses.” On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex ended 770.31 points or 1.29 per cent lower at 58,788.02, while the broader NSE Nifty settled down 219.80 points or 1.24 per cent at 17,560.20.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.92 per cent to USD 88.65 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 183.60 crore, as per stock exchange data. PTI DRR MKJ
