Rupee falls 25 paise to 82.46 against US dollar

Mumbai, Apr 3 (PTI) The rupee depreciated 25 paise to 82.46 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, weighed down by firm crude oil prices and a negative trend in domestic equities.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened weak at 82.44 against the dollar, then fell to 82.46, registering a decline of 25 paise over its last close.

On Friday, the rupee settled at 82.21 against the dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.48 per cent to 102.99.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 5.50 per cent to USD 84.28 per barrel.

“… Appreciation in rupee shall remain limited to 81.50-81.80 zone where importer can target buying and upside shall for now remain protected towards 82.70-82.90 region for this week,” CR Forex Advisors MD-Amit Pabari said.

“With a holiday shortened week, highlights would be the RBI policy due on April 6 and US payrolls due on April 7,” Pabari added.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank will be meeting for three days on April 3, 5 and 6 to take into account various domestic and global factors before coming out with the first bi-monthly monetary policy for fiscal 2023-24.

The RBI has already increased the repo rate by a total of 250 basis points since May in a bid to contain inflation though it has continued to remain above the central bank’s comfort zone of 6 per cent for most of the time.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 64.56 points or 0.11 per cent lower at 58,926.96. The broader NSE Nifty declined 9.60 points or 0.06 per cent to 17,350.15.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital markets on Friday as they purchased shares worth Rs 357.86 crore, according to exchange data.