Rupee Ends Nearly Flat At 70.92 Against Dollar
The rupee pared its initial gains to close almost flat at 70.92 against the dollar on Thursday due to dollar buying by importers and banks. Rising crude prices and month-end dollar demand from oil importers weighed on the rupee sentiment, dealers said.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened strong at 70.77 against the dollar, driven by the US Federal Reserve's move to lower its interest rates for a third straight time. The domestic unit, later, gave up gains to settle at 70.92, showing a marginal fall of 2 paise over its previous close.
"Rupee has been trading in the narrow range of 70.68-71.10 for last seven sessions. After positive opening of 6 paise, rupee lost the ground after Dow index fell in the electronic trade in the second half of the session," said V K Sharma, Head PCG & Capital Markets Strategy, HDFC Securities.
The BSE Sensex settled 77.18 points, or 0.19 per cent, higher at 40,129.05. The broader NSE Nifty too advanced 33.35 points, or 0.28 per cent, to close at 11,877.45.
Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 1,870.87 crore on Thursday, exchange data showed.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.43 per cent to 97.22 after reports suggested that China was doubting reaching a trade deal with the US.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.05 per cent higher at $60.64 per barrel.
