Rupee gains 43 paise to close at 74.03 against U.S. dollar

Mumbai: The rupee gained 43 paise to close at 74.03 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday as positive domestic equities and a dovish outlook of US Federal Reserve supported the local unit.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 74.25 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 73.98 and a low of 74.25 during the day’s trade. It finally ended at 74.03 a dollar.

On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 74.46 against the US dollar.

The forex market was closed on Friday for ‘Diwali Balipratipada’.

“Rupee traded strong as the FED statement of not being so keen to increase rates early has put pressure on the dollar index and helped rupee scale higher from lows of 74.60 to 74.00. Going ahead, the range for rupee can be seen between 74.20-73.75,” said Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.04 per cent to 94.28.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex advanced 477.99 points or 0.80 per cent to end at 60,545.61, while the broader NSE Nifty jumped 151.75 points or 0.85 per cent to 18,068.55.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 1 per cent to USD 83.57 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 328.11 crore, as per exchange data.