Early on Wednesday, the rupee lost 7 paise to 81.95 versus the US dollar, following the rise in the value of the dollar relative to key competitors abroad and the price of crude oil.
The local currency suffered despite strong mood in the home market containing the decline, forex dealers said. Crude oil prices holding over USD 83 per barrel and investors’ cautious moves ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s interest rate announcement later in the day both hurt the domestic currency.
The domestic unit’s interbank foreign currency opening price was 81.89. Prior to trading at 81.95 versus the US dollar, it reached a high of 81.87 and a low of 81.96, down 7 paise from its previous close.
The rupee’s value versus the dollar had been decided at 81.88 on Tuesday.
“Downsides softened after reaching the 81.75 goal, enabling a pullback. Today’s upswings should aim for 82-82.15 if early declines are maintained above 81.82. In his USD-INR view, Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said, “We will wait for a push below 81.5 to play strong downsides.”
The dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six other currencies, decreased slightly by 0.01 percent to 101.34.
The benchmark for world oil, Brent crude futures, was down 0.43 percent at USD 83.28 a barrel.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was up 317.49 points, or 0.48 percent, at 66,673.20 on the domestic equities market. The NSE Nifty index as a whole increased 19,759.80 points, or 79.20 points, or 0.40 percent.
According to exchange statistics, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) changed from net sellers to purchasers on Tuesday, purchasing shares worth Rs 1,088.76 crore.