Mumbai, The rupee traded on a flat note at 83.24 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday as an upward trend in crude oil prices dented investor sentiment despite positive domestic macroeconomic data. Forex analysts said the Indian currency continued to stay under pressure due to unabated foreign fund outflow amid negative equity markets across Asia.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.25 and stayed in the narrow range of 83.23 to 83.25 against the greenback. It later turned flat at Thursday’s closing level of 83.24 against the dollar.
The rupee had settled 7 paise higher on Wednesday, a day after gaining 3 paise against the American currency.
According to the government data released on Thursday, India’s retail inflation moderated to a three-month low of 5 per cent in September while factory output in August soared to a 14-month high of 10.4 per cent.
“Today, the focus will be on the preliminary consumer sentiment number from the US and better-than-expected data could extend gains for the dollar. We expect the USD-INR(Spot) to trade sideways and quote in the range of 83.05 and 83.40,” Gaurang Somaiya, forex and bullion analyst at Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.15 per cent lower at 106.44.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.58 per cent to USD 86.50 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex tumbled 306.22 points or 0.46 per cent to 66,102.17. The broader NSE Nifty declined 73.60 points or 0.37 per cent to 19,720.40.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,862.57 crore, as per exchange data.
