Rupee rebounds 72 paise against US dollar

The Indian rupee in early Forex trade on Thursday climbed 72 paise to 70.58 against the US dollar amid weakness in the US greenback on uncertainty over Fed rate hikes following the release of Federal Reserve's meet minutes that reveals policymakers may slow the pace of rate hikes to prevent a slowdown in the economy. Forex traders said the weakness in the US dollar against other currencies overseas, falling crude oil prices and fresh foreign fund inflows pushed the rupee higher.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened weak at Rs 70.49, but soon appreciated to 70.58 against the greenback, up 72 paise over its previous closing price.

Asked about the future trend that rupee may show in the Forex market Anindya Banerjee, Deputy Vice President, Kotak Securities had told Zee Business Online, "Technically, the Indian currency looks bearish as the government of India is unable to bridge the gap of Rs 20,000 crore that it failed to generate through GST revenue collection."

He had said that any rise in rupee is because of the weak dollar. He predicted that rupee will touch the levels of Rs 72 per dollar on rising fiscal deficit of the Indian government.

The rupee on Wednesday had depreciated by 25 paise to close at 70.46 against the US dollar.

Brent crude, the global benchmark, was trading lower at 60.9 per barrel, lower by around 0.90 percent.

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Meanwhile, foreign funds bought shares worth Rs 276.14 crore from the capital markets on a net basis, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 439.67 crore on Wednesday, provisional data showed.

The Indian benchmark BSE Sensex was trading down around 25 points, or 0.07 percent at 36, 239, while the NSE Nifty was trading at 10,856, up by a whisker 0.03 percent.