Rupee falls 14 paise to close at 82.84 against US dollar

Mumbai: The rupee depreciated 14 paise to close at 82.84 (provisional) against the US currency on Friday as the strength of the American currency in the overseas market and a muted trend in domestic equities weighed on investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 82.77 against the greenback and finally settled for the day at 82.84 (provisional), registering a fall of 14 paise over its previous close of 82.70.

During the session, the domestic unit witnessed an intra-day high of 82.73 and a low of 82.85 against the American dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.59 per cent higher at 104.47.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures declined 1.75 per cent to USD 83.65 per barrel.

According to Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, the Indian rupee depreciated on risk-off sentiments in global markets and a strong US dollar.

"Dollar strengthened as robust economic data from the US raised expectations that the US Federal Reserve may hold interest rates higher for longer to tame inflation," Choudhary said.

Choudhary further noted that "we expect rupee to trade with a negative bias on strong dollar and weak domestic markets.

"However, weak crude oil prices and fresh FII inflows may prevent a sharp fall in rupee. USDINR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 82.40 to Rs 83.30," Choudhary said.

The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 316.94 points or 0.52 per cent lower at 61,002.57, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 91.65 points or 0.51 per cent to 17,944.20.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital markets on Thursday as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,570.62 crore, according to exchange data.