Rupee falls 4 paise to 79.87 against US dollar in early trade

Mumbai: The rupee depreciated 4 paise to 79.87 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday, tracking the strength of the American currency in the overseas market.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 79.84 against the dollar, then fell to 79.87, registering a decline of 4 paise over the last close.

On Tuesday, the rupee moved up 1 paisa to settle at 79.83 against the dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.11 per cent to 108.74.

The dollar is supported by hawkish comments by Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari who said his biggest fear is the US central bank misreads the extent and persistence of price pressures and will need to deliver even more aggressive rate hikes to control inflation, said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.

Iyer added that most Asian and emerging market peers remained weak on Wednesday morning and could weigh on sentiments.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.46 per cent to USD 99.76 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 141.45 points or 0.24 per cent lower at 58,889.85, while the broader NSE Nifty was down 50.15 points or 0.29 per cent to 17,527.35.

Foreign institutional investors turned net buyers in the capital market on Tuesday as they purchased shares worth Rs 563.00 crore, as per exchange data.