Rupee falls 14 paise to 75.16 against USD on new COVID variant worries

The rupee on Friday slipped 14 paise to close at 75.16 (provisional) against the US dollar, tracking massive sell-offs in domestic equities amid growing worries over the new COVID variant.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 74.98 and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.95 and a low of 75.18 against the US dollar in a highly volatile trading session.

The local unit finally settled at 75.16 a dollar, down 14 paise over its previous close.

The rupee on Thursday settled at 75.02 against the US dollar.

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The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.06 per cent up at 96.21.

The rupee has been under pressure over the last few trading sessions as the detection of the new coronavirus variant Omicron re-ignited growth concerns and hurt risk appetite.

Besides, unabated foreign fund outflows weighed on investor sentiments, traders said.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 909.71 crore, as per exchange data.

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 2.54 per cent to USD 71.44 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 764.83 points or 1.31 per cent lower at 57,696.46, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 204.95 points or 1.18 per cent to 17,196.70.