Rupee falls 6 paise to settle at 83.44 against US dollar

The rupee declined 6 paise to settle at 83.44 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday, in line with deep losses in equity markets and an elevated dollar against major rivals overseas amid geopolitical tensions.

However, weakening crude oil prices in the international markets and positive domestic macroeconomic data restricted the rupee's fall, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.46 and traded between 83.42 and 83.47 against the greenback. The local unit finally settled at 83.44 (provisional), registering a loss of 6 paise from its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee declined 7 paise to settle at 83.38 against the US dollar.

Anuj Choudhary Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, said the Indian rupee weakened on a strong US dollar and a decline in domestic markets. However, the sharp downside in the rupee was contained amid upbeat domestic macroeconomic data and possible intervention by the central bank.

"We expect the rupee to trade with a slight negative bias on heightened global tensions in the Middle East, which could impact global equities and strengthen the dollar further," Choudhary said, adding that "traders will take cues from India's trade deficit and US retail sales data. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 83.20 to Rs 83.80".

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.15 per cent lower at 105.68.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, declined 0.94 per cent to USD 89.60 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex declined 845.12 points, or 1.14 per cent, to settle at 73,399.78. The Nifty fell 246.90 points, or 1.10 per cent, to close at 22,272.50.

According to the latest government data released on Monday, the wholesale price index-based inflation in the country rose marginally to 0.53 per cent in March compared to 0.20 per cent in the preceding month due to increased prices of vegetables, potatoes, onion and crude oil.

Another data released on Friday showed retail inflation declined to a five-month low of 4.85 per cent in March mainly due to cooling food prices, inching towards the Reserve Bank's target of 4 per cent.

The country's industrial production growth accelerated to a four-month high of 5.7 per cent in February 2024, mainly due to the good performance of the mining sector, according to official data released on Friday.

India's forex reserves jumped by USD 2.98 billion to a fresh peak of USD 648.562 billion for the week ended April 5.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Friday as they sold shares worth Rs 8,027 crore, according to exchange data.