Rupee falls 3 paise against US dollar

The rupee on Tuesday consolidated in a narrow range and settled 3 paise lower at 83.42 against the US dollar, weighed down by a strong dollar and elevated crude oil prices.

Forex traders said a weak trend in domestic equities and unabated foreign capital outflows also dented investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit opened at 83.37, then touched an intraday high of 83.34 and a low of 83.44 against the greenback. The rupee finally settled at 83.42, a fall of 3 paise over its previous close.

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

The domestic unit was range-bound as the Reserve Bank of India continued to support it as the dollar was unable to move lower than 83.40. However, there were sufficient dollar bids to cover selling by the RBI, said Anil Kumar Bhansali Head of Treasury and Executive Director of Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.

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

''We expect the rupee to trade with a slight negative bias on strong US dollar and weak tone in domestic markets. Rising crude oil prices may also weigh on the domestic currency,'' said Anuj Choudhary Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Traders may take cues from Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) and speeches by various US Federal Reserve officials. USD/INR spot price is expected to trade in the range of Rs 83.20 to Rs 83.60, Choudhary added.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 104.96.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 1.78 per cent to USD 88.98 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex declined 110.64 points, or 0.15 per cent, to settle at 73,903.91 points. The Nifty fell 8.70 points, or 0.04 per cent, to close at 22,453.30 points.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,622.69 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, India's manufacturing sector growth climbed to a 16-year high in March on the back of the strongest increase in output and new orders since October 2020 amid reports of buoyant demand conditions, a monthly survey said on Tuesday.

The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) surged to a 16-year high of 59.1 in March, from 56.9 in February, reflecting stronger growth of new orders, output and input stocks as well as renewed job creation.

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