Rupee suffers 1st loss in 6 days; falls 17 paise against US dollar

Mumbai, November 27

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The rupee snapped its five-day winning streak to finish 17 paise lower at 74.05 against the US dollar on Friday on emergence of demand for the greenback from banks and importers.

Besides, subdued domestic equities too weakened sentiment, traders said and added that market participants also turned a little cautious ahead of the release of the September quarter GDP numbers. The GDP data was released post market hours.

The Indian economy contracted by 7.5 per cent in the July-September quarter of this fiscal amid the COVID-19 crisis, official data showed.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.80 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 73.76 and a low of 74.07.

The local unit finally closed at 74.05 against the American currency, registering a loss of 17 paise over its previous close.

On a weekly basis, the rupee gained 11 paise.

“Indian rupee halted its five-day rally and closed with a minor loss of 17 paise to 74.05 a dollar. The dollar buying by the central banks and hedging demand at psychologically important level of 74 was seen ahead of the holiday,” HDFC Securities Deputy Head of Retail Research Devarsh Vakil said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.04 per cent to 91.95.

“Rupee traded muted by afternoon trade on Friday tracking the dollar index muted trades. Thanksgiving holiday days keep dollar prices in a range moves,” Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst (Commodity & Currency) at LKP Securities, said.

He further said “the range of 73.90 – 74.50 can continue due to major update yet to be announced in terms of US stimulus package. Indian GDP number awaited in the evening can provide some support to rupee as expectation are positive compared to QoQ”.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 110.02 points or 0.25 per cent lower at 44,149.72, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 18.05 points or 0.14 per cent to 12,968.95.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.65 per cent to USD 48.11 per barrel.

Indian currency markets will remain closed on Monday on account of Gurunank Jayanti. PTI