Mumbai: The rupee on Monday strengthened by 12 paise to 77.93 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday as support to the local unit on softening crude oil prices. However, foreign fund outflows, a weak trend in domestic equities and a stronger US dollar overseas limited the gains, forex dealers said.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened stronger at 77.98 against the US dollar, then recovered to 77.93, registering an increase of 12 paise over the previous close. In the previous session, the rupee had gained 5 paise to close at 78.05 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.30 per cent to 104.38. Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 0.26 per cent to $112.83 a barrel.
The Indian rupee strengthened slightly against the US currency after the biggest fall in more than a month in crude oil prices amid weak economic outlook, said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst, Reliance Securities. Meanwhile, most Asian and emerging market peers opened marginally stronger on Monday morning and supported the local unit.
However, the dollar remained higher, and continued portfolio outflows could limit the appreciation bias of the rupee, Iyer said. On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 85.22 points or 0.17 per cent lower at 51,275.20, while the broader NSE nifty It fell 39.35 points, or 0.26 per cent, to 15,254.15.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital markets on Friday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 7,818.61 crore, according to exchange data.
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