Rupee settles 9 paise up at 71.20 against US dollar

Mumbai, December 6

The Indian rupee appreciated 9 paise to close at 71.20 against the US dollar on Friday, a day after the RBI kept the policy rate unchanged and decided to continue with its accommodative stance to support the economy.

Investor sentiment strengthened after the Reserve Bank of India signalled continuing with its accommodative stance, while easing crude oil prices also supported the domestic currency, forex traders said.

However, heavy selling in domestic equities weighed on the local unit and restricted the gains, they added.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 71.30 and shuttled between a high of 71.19 and a low of 71.43. It finally finished at 71.20, up by 9 paise.

The domestic unit had settled at 71.29 against the US dollar on Thursday.

The rupee registered a gain of 54 paise this week.

Brent futures, the global oil benchmark, was trading at USD 63.42 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex closed at 40,445.15, down 334.44 points or 0.82 per cent. Likewise, the 50-share Nifty shed 96.90 points or 0.81 per cent to settle at 11,921.50.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased shares worth a net Rs 653.36 crore on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data.

The 10-year government bond yield was at 6.67 per cent.

The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 71.5476 and for rupee/euro at 79.2924. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 93.8137 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 65.76. PTI