Rupee Trades Steady vs US Dollar: Early Trade

Mumbai, Apr 2 (PTI) The rupee witnessed a range-bound trading in initial deals against the US dollar on Tuesday, weighed down by a strong American currency and elevated crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.37 against the greenback, then touched 83.35, registering a rise of 4 paise over its previous close.

On Thursday, the rupee depreciated 6 paise to settle at 83.39 against the US dollar.

Forex market was closed on Friday and Monday on account of 'Good Friday' and annual account closing of banks, respectively.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent higher at 105.06.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 0.43 per cent to USD 87.80 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex declined 59.21 points, or 0.08 per cent, to 73,955.34 points. The Nifty fell 12.20 points, or 0.05 per cent, to 22,449.80 points.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 522.30 crore, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, India's forex reserves increased by USD 140 million to touch an all-time high of USD 642.631 billion during the week ended March 22, the Reserve Bank said.

This is the fifth consecutive week of a jump in the overall reserves. The kitty had increased by USD 6.396 billion to USD 642.492 billion in the previous week.

On the domestic macroeconomic front, the government's fiscal deficit at Rs 15 lakh crore at February-end touched 86.5 per cent of the revised annual target, according to official data released on Thursday.

Moreover, GST collections in March grew 11.5 per cent to Rs 1.78 lakh crore on higher domestic sales.