Snapping its two-day losing streak, the rupee strengthened by 13 paise to settle at 73.33 against the US dollar on Wednesday helped by positive domestic equities and foreign fund inflows.
At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.53 against the US dollar, but gained ground during the day and finally settled at 73.33, registering a rise of 13 paise over its last close of 73.46 against the greenback.
During the session, the local unit witnessed an intra-day high of 73.29 and a low of 73.55 against the American currency.
Traders said investors are focusing on the RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decision. The newly-constituted MPC of the Reserve Bank began its three-day deliberations on Wednesday. The decision of the rate-setting panel will be announced on October 9.
“This week is the RBI MPC outcome, we expect the central bank to maintain a status quo on the back of rising inflation. The focus will be on growth projections, as since February 2020, the RBI has not given a solid economic projection,” said Rahul Gupta, Head of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.
Gupta further added that “we are observing an occasional bullish attempt in the dollar. And as the dollar index marches towards 94 zone, there is an uptrend in USD-INR. Also, there still persists an uncertainty in the runup to US presidential elections and this cautiousness will keep dollar bulls active”.
{{/usCountry}}Gupta further added that “we are observing an occasional bullish attempt in the dollar. And as the dollar index marches towards 94 zone, there is an uptrend in USD-INR. Also, there still persists an uncertainty in the runup to US presidential elections and this cautiousness will keep dollar bulls active”.
{{/usCountry}}Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.03 per cent to 93.71.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 328.73 points higher at 39,903.30 and the broader NSE Nifty rose 83 points to 11,745.40.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,101.76 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, according to provisional exchange data.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.27 per cent to USD 42.11 per barrel.