Rupee rises 11 paise to 82.48 against US dollar

Mumbai, Mar 20 (PTI) The rupee continued its upward trend and rose 11 paise to 82.48 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, tracking fall in crude oil prices and firm Asian currencies.

Traders said, strong dollar and negative sentiments across the global as well as domestic equity markets capped the gain in the rupee.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened stronger at 82.48 against the US dollar and then slipped to 82.52. It gained further to 82.48, registering a gain of 11 paise.

The Indian currency traded between 82.46 and 82.55.

On Friday, the rupee settled at 82.59 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was 0.16 per cent higher at 103.87.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.52 per cent to USD 72.59 per barrel.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 461.61 points or 0.80 per cent lower at 57,528.29 points while the broader NSE Nifty was down 158.05 points or 0.92 per cent at 16,942.00 points.

Rout in the US and European banking stocks past week adversely impacted investor sentiments amid concerns over the health of the global banking system.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the domestic capital market on Friday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,766.53 crore, according to exchange data.