Mumbai:
The rupee fell 4 paise to close at 74.84 against the American currency on Thursday amid month-end dollar demand from importers and a weak trend in domestic equities.
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 74.84 and shuttled between a high of 74.80 and a low of 74.88 against the greenback.
The rupee finally closed at 74.84 against the US dollar, down 4 paise over its previous close of 74.80.
Forex traders said the rupee was trading on a muted note after the US Federal Reserve reiterated its dovish stance and held interest rates steady. Further, weak domestic equities weighed on investor sentiment.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.13 per cent to 93.57.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex closed 335.06 points or 0.88 per cent lower at 37,736.07, while the NSE Nifty tumbled 100.70 points or 0.90 per cent to 11,102.15.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital markets, offloading shares worth Rs 352.62 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.91 per cent to USD 43.35 per barrel.
The Indian rupee ended flat amid month-end dollar demand by importers and a slightly positive greenback, Reliance Securities Senior Analyst Sriram Iyer said.
“However, depreciation was limited supported by the positive risk appetite in the region after the Federal Reserve reiterated its dovish stance,” Iyer added.
According to traders, the US GDP data could act as the next potential trigger.
“The Federal Reserve in line with expectation held rates unchanged and in… (the) policy statement mentioned that the central bank would ‘do what we can, and for as long as it takes’ to limit damage and boost growth,” said Gaurang Somaiya, Forex and Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
Somaiya added the “market participants will be keeping an eye on the advance GDP number and weaker-than-expected growth number could keep the dollar weighed down.”
“The initial reaction of the Fed statement was negative for the dollar but as market priced in the lower interest rate in near future, short covering bounce from multiple bottom support has been seen,” said Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 74.7667 and for rupee/euro at 87.7766. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 96.6709 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 71.22.
