On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 74.27 against US dollar.
The rupee appreciated by 11 paise to settle at 74.16 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday, supported by positive domestic equities and sustained foreign fund inflows. At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 74.15 against the US dollar and touched an intra-day high of 74.09 and a low of 74.21. It finally settled at 74.16 against the greenback, registering an increase of 11 paise over its previous close.On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 74.27 against US dollar.“The rupee is currently drawing a lot of support from equity inflows and the fact that the dollar globally is on the backfoot,” said Sugandha Sachdeva VP-Metals, Energy & Currency Research, Religare Broking. Sachdeva further said that “going forward, we think that the rupee has scope to further appreciate till 73.80. However, beyond that, the RBI would step in to curtail its move, while dollar index may also rebound given the uncertain growth outlook in the US. That should put some downward pressure on the rupee”.The domestic unit is expected to trade in the 73.80 to 75 band till the end of this month, Sachdeva noted. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.08% higher at 92.36. On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex closed 282.29 points higher at 43,882.25, while the broader NSE Nifty rose 87.35 points to settle at 12,859.05. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth ₹ 1,180.61 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.38% to USD 44.37 per barrel.
