On January 23, the Rupee had settled at 83.15 against the U.S. dollar. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu
The Rupee stayed range-bound and settled two paise (provisional) higher at 83.13 against the U.S. dollar on January 24.
Forex traders said the Rupee is trading in a narrow range as positive domestic markets and a soft U.S. dollar supported the Rupee while rising crude oil prices and foreign fund outflows capped gains.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.15 against the greenback. The unit oscillated between an intraday low of 83.16 and a high of 83.11 against the greenback and finally settled at 83.13 against the dollar, higher by two paise (provisional) from its previous close. On January 23, the Rupee had settled at 83.15 against the U.S. dollar.
“We expect the Rupee to trade with a slight positive bias as the U.S. Dollar has softened ahead of PMI data and gains in the Japanese Yen. Markets expect PMI data to be better than the previous month’s reading. However, concerns over the Red Sea region and elevated crude oil prices may cap the sharp upside,” said Anuj Choudhary Research Analyst, Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
Traders may remain cautious ahead of PMI data from Germany, the Eurozone, the U.K. and the U.S. today. Investors may remain cautious ahead of the U.S. GDP and ECB monetary policy decision on January 25. USD/INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of ₹82.90 to ₹83.50.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.48% lower at 103.11 on Wednesday. “U.S. Dollar declined on strong Yen on rising expectations that Bank of Japan may normalise its monetary policy in the coming months,” Mr. Choudhary added. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, surged 0.35% to $79.83 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex advanced 689.76 points, or 0.98% to 71,060.31 points. The Nifty climbed 215.15 points or 1.01% to 21,453.95 points.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth ₹3,115.39 crore, according to exchange data.
