Rupee slips 5 paise to 74.17 against US dollar in early trade

Mumbai: The Indian rupee declined 5 paise to 74.17 against the US dollar in opening trade on Monday, in line with its Asian peers amid the strengthening of the American currency in the overseas market.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 74.16 against the dollar, then fell further to 74.17, registering a fall of 5 paise over its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee had settled at 74.12 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading up 0.02 per cent at 94.05.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex was trading 621.28 points or 1.06 per cent higher at 59,386.86, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 185.80 points or 1.06 per cent to 17,717.85.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Friday, as they purchased shares worth Rs 131.39 crore, as per exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.32 per cent to USD 79.03 per barrel.

The Indian rupee opened weaker this Monday morning against the dollar, tracking losses in Asian and emerging market currencies on renewed worries over the China Evergrande Group’s debt troubles, said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.

The focus this week will be on developments at Evergrande and on the RBI monetary policy meeting and the US monthly jobs report, he said.

The Reserve Bank of India’s Monetary Policy Committee is expected to keep the key rate unchanged but could signal the beginning of the unwinding of its accommodative monetary policies, Iyer added.