Rupee strengthens 6 paise to 95.39 against dollar

The rupee gained 6 paise to settle at 95.39 against the US dollar on Friday, supported by lower global crude prices and RBI intervention. However, a stronger dollar and foreign investor outflows kept the domestic currency under pressure

Mumbai: The rupee rose 6 paise to settle at 95.39 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday on the back of a fall in global crude oil prices and intervention by the Reserve Bank of India.

However, a marginally stronger greenback and FII outflows kept the local unit under pressure, forex traders said.

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At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 95.54 against the greenback and traded in the range of 95.31-95.57 during the session. It eventually settled at 95.39 (provisional), up 6 paise from its previous close.

The rupee pared initial gains and settled for the day lower by 1 paise at 95.45 against the US dollar on Thursday.

“Rupee appreciated from the forenoon trades where it had dipped to 95.55 level. RBI is intervening in the market to stem any significant depreciation in rupee. Better-than-expected flows under the FCNR(B) scheme, which has crossed USD 65 billion is contributing to the strength in the rupee,” V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd, said.

Forex traders further said market participants will closely monitor US Fed Chair Kevin Warsh’s speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 99.21, higher by 0.06 per cent.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.51 per cent at USD at 89.24 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equities market front, Sensex climbed 330.92 points to settle at 77,264.51, while the Nifty rose 84.80 points to 24,175.65.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 298.26 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.