Mumbai: The Indian rupee weakened by 13 paise to close at 74.42 against the US currency on Friday, tracking muted domestic equities and unabated foreign fund outflows.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit witnessed high volatility. It opened at 74.30 against the dollar and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.27 and a low of 74.44 during the session.
Snapping its two-day gaining streak, the local unit finally ended the day at 74.42, down 13 paise over its last close.
On a weekly basis, the rupee depreciated 2 paise against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading unchanged at 91.86.
“Indian rupee erased Thursday’s gains and clocked weekly declines after three consecutive weekly gains following risk-off sentiments and fund outflows,” said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.
Market participants are awaiting fiscal deficit and eight core-infra numbers data ahead of next weeks’ RBI policy meet for further cues.
“From the level front, spot USDINR is in congestion zone with downside support around 74 and resistance at 74.90,” Parmar said.
According to Gaurang Somaiyaa, Forex and Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, “Rupee continued to quote in a narrow range and volatility was low ahead of the important core PCE index number that will be released from the US.
Expectation is that the number could come in line with the previous number and that could restrict major upside for the greenback.”
On the domestic front, market participants could remain cautious ahead of the RBI policy statement that will be released next week. “We expect the USDINR (Spot) to trade sideways with a negative bias and quote in the range of 74.20 and 74.80,” Somaiyaa said.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 66.23 points or 0.13 per cent lower at 52,586.84, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 15.40 points or 0.1 per cent to 15,763.05.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude declined 0.25 per cent to USD 75.86 per barrel in futures trade.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 866.26 crore, as per exchange data.
PTI