Rupee falls 10 paise to close at 82.74 against US dollar

Mumbai: The rupee depreciated 10 paise to close at 82.74 (provisional) against the US currency on Friday, as the strength of the American currency in the overseas market and a muted trend in domestic equities weighed on investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 82.67 against the greenback and finally settled for the day at 82.74 (provisional), registering a fall of 10 paise over its previous close of 82.64.

During the session, the domestic unit witnessed an intra-day high of 82.66 and a low of 82.81 against the American dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.10 per cent higher at 104.69.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures advanced 1.08 per cent to USD 83.10 per barrel.

According to Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas, the Indian rupee depreciated on weak domestic markets and a positive greenback. Rebound in crude oil prices also weighed on rupee.

Dollar strengthened on upbeat labour market data and expectations of a hawkish Federal Reserve. However weak GDP capped sharp upside in dollar. The US economy expanded at 2.7 per cent in Q4 2022 compared to initial estimates of 2.9 per cent and 3.2 per cent in Q3 2022, Choudhary said.

"We expect rupee to trade with a negative bias on expectations that dollar may strengthen further on hawkish Fed and weak domestic markets. FII outflows and renewed geopolitical tensions may also put downside pressure on rupee," Choudhary added.

The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 141.87 points or 0.24 per cent lower at 59,463.93, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 45.45 points or 0.26 per cent to 17,465.80.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,417.24 crore, according to exchange data.