Rupee declines 7 paise to close at 75.03 against US dollar

The rupee weakened by 7 paise to end at 75.03 against the US currency on Wednesday, weighed down by a muted trend in domestic equities and strength of the American currency in the overseas market.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 75.02 and later witnessed a high of 74.90 and a low of 75.05 against the US dollar in the day trade.

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The local unit finally settled at 75.03 a dollar, down 7 paise over its previous close. On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 74.96 against the US dollar.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, declined by 1.08 per cent to USD 85.47 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 206.93 points or 0.34 per cent lower at 61,143.33 while the broader NSE Nifty declined 57.45 points or 0.31 per cent to 18,210.95.

"The Indian rupee depreciated following month-end dollar demand and a stronger greenback against major currencies. Weakness in Asian currencies and risk-off sentiments weighed on the local unit," said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

"Going Ahead, the rupee is expected to consolidate between 74.70 and 75.30 following expectation of fund inflows from a series of IPOs starting from tomorrow," Parmar added.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.02 per cent up at 93.97.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,368.66 crore, according to the exchange data.