Indian rupee rises 15 paise against US dollar in early trade

Mumbai: The rupee surged 15 paise to 74.77 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday on expectation of better inflows into high profile initial public offerings (IPOs).

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened strong at 74.78 against the dollar and inched further to 74.77 in early deals, a rise of 15 paise over its previous close.

On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 74.92 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.08 percent to 93.41.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.23 percent to USD 84.51 per barrel. On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 2.72 points higher at 59,987.42, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 9.50 points or 0.05 percent to 17,866.75.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 3,818.51 crore, as per exchange data.

According to Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury, Finrex Treasury Advisors, rupee moving in a range of 74.70 – 75.20. The US data was lower than expectation yesterday with GDP coming at 2 percent against expectation of 2.7 percent.

“Rupee is likely to remain in 74.60/75.00 range as NYKKA and Policy Bazaar inflows hit the market. Exporters to sell only near to 75.00 and importers to buy near 74.70 for their near term exposures,” Bhansali said.