Rupee Rises Against US Dollar Amid Oil Price Fall

Mumbai, Feb 17 (PTI) The rupee rose by 1 paisa to 90.73 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, aided by a fall in global crude oil prices.

However, a stronger greenback and FII outflows capped gains in the local unit, according to forex traders.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.72 against the US dollar before slipping to 90.73, up 1 paisa against its previous close.

The rupee settled 8 paise lower at 90.74 against the US dollar on Monday.

"The rupee was well offered on Monday though it closed lower. Suspected RBI intervention has prevented the currency to cross 91 so far and has also deterred speculative shorts," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.


Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.23 per cent higher at 97.14.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.47 per cent lower at USD 68.33 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex declined 245.87 points to 83,031.28 in early trade while the Nifty was down 106.45 points to 25,576.30.

On Monday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 972.13 crore, according to exchange data.

Government data released on Monday showed that wholesale price inflation extended upward momentum for the third straight month, at 1.81 per cent in January, driven by an uptick in prices of food, non-food articles, and manufactured items on a month-on-month basis.

Further, the country's exports rose marginally by 0.61 per cent to USD 36.56 billion in January, while trade deficit widened to a three-month high of USD 34.68 billion, as per official data released on Monday.