On Friday, the rupee fell 8 pounds to close at 81.38 against the US dollar. (file)
Mumbai:
The rupee gained 9 pounds to reach 81.29 against the US dollar in early trading today, supported by broad dollar weakness and a strong trend in local stocks.
Forex traders said that continued inflows of foreign funds weighed on investor sentiment and limited the bullish bias.
In the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 81.29 against the dollar, registering an increase of 9 pounds from its previous close.
On Friday, it fell by 8 pounds to close at 81.38 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.32 percent to 101.87.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.53 percent to $84.83 a barrel.
According to Sriram Iyer, senior research analyst at Reliance Securities, the Indian rupee opened stronger on Monday, tracking dollar weakness and the prospect of a February rate hike from the US Federal Reserve.
Most of their Asian peers were stronger this morning, and stable oil prices and the recent decline in Treasury yields could help the domestic unit.
However, attractive rates for importers and the possibility of intervention by the Reserve Bank of India in buying dollars may limit sharp gains.
In the local stock market, the 30-share BSE Sensex traded 143.87 points, or 0.24 percent, at 60405.05. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 22.75 points, or 0.13 percent, to 17,979.35.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Friday unloading shares worth Rs 2,422.39 crore, according to exchange data.
(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by the Alendronaterx staff and was published from a syndicated feed.)
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