Rupee Falls By 12 Paise To Close At 82.82 Against US Dollar

The rupee depreciated by 12 paise to close at 82.82 against the US currency on Friday as a stronger greenback in the overseas market and a muted trend in domestic equities weighed on investor sentiments.

FII outflows from the capital markets also hit the rupee sentiment while weak crude oil prices lent some support to the unit which posted its fourth straight week of decline.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 82.77 against the greenback and finally settled at 82.82, registering a fall of 12 paise over its previous close of 82.70.

During the session, the domestic unit witnessed an intra-day high of 82.73 and a low of 82.85 against the American dollar.

On a weekly basis, the rupee declined by 24 paise in its fourth straight week of losses against the dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.59 per cent higher at 104.47.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures declined 1.75 per cent to USD 83.65 per barrel.

According to Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, the Indian rupee depreciated on risk-off sentiments in global markets and a strong US dollar.

"Dollar strengthened as robust economic data from the US raised expectations that the US Federal Reserve may hold interest rates higher for longer to tame inflation," Choudhary said.

Choudhary further noted that "we expect rupee to trade with a negative bias on strong dollar and weak domestic markets.

"However, weak crude oil prices and fresh FII inflows may prevent a sharp fall in rupee. USDINR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 82.40 to Rs 83.30," Choudhary said.

According to Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, the Indian rupee marked the fourth weekly decline in a row following hawkish comments from the Federal Reserve members that supported the dollar bulls.

However, the rupee performed relatively better among the Asian currencies amid the central bank's intervention.

The local unit managed to float above 83 for the time being on the back of the bargain buying of domestic equities by foreign institutions.

"Though the rupee manages to stay above 83, it might be difficult to hold it for long amid broad-based strength in the greenback. Technically, spot USDINR has resistance at 83.10 and support at 82.30," Parmar said.

Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst at LKP Securities said the rupee traded weak amid fear of rising interest rates in the US which has brought dollar above USD 104.25.

The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 316.94 points or 0.52 per cent lower at 61,002.57, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 91.65 points or 0.51 per cent to 17,944.20.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Friday as they sold shares worth Rs 624.61 crore, according to exchange data. PTI DRR MR MR

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