Rupee rallies 39 paise to 74.67 against US dollar

Mumbai:  The rupee appreciated by 39 paise to 74.67 against the US dollar on Friday on hopes of a diplomatic solution to the East-West standoff over Ukraine.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 75.03 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.60 and a low of 75.05.

The rupee was quoted at 74.67 at 1530 hrs, registering a rise of 39 paise over its previous close 75.06. The rupee had closed the session on Thursday at 75.11 (provisionally) but later settled at 75.06.

The proposed US-Russia talks spurred optimism about the volatile geopolitical situation in Ukraine, said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

“Rupee recouped previous week and most of the current month losses amid long unwinding in dollar, lower crude oil prices and expectation of dollar inflows from LIC IPO,” Parmar said, adding that foreign fund outflows and risk-averse sentiments could limit the gains in the rupee.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, advanced 0.05 per cent to 95.84.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 59.04 points or 0.10 per cent lower at 57,832.97, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 28.30 points or 0.16 per cent to 17,276.30.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, was trading 1.68 per cent lower at USD 91.41 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,242.10 crore, as per stock exchange data.