Rupee falls 15 paise to 82.77 against US dollar

Mumbai: The rupee depreciated 15 paise to 82.77 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday as firm crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 82.71, then touched 82.77, registering a decline of 15 paise over its last close.

On Friday, the rupee had settled at 82.62 against the dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell marginally by 0.06 per cent to 104.17.

"This week, services PMI and factory orders number from the US will be important to watch. Better-than-expected data could lift the dollar further higher," said Gaurang Somaiya, forex and bullion analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Somaiya further said,"We expect the USDINR (Spot) to trade sideways with a negative bias and quote in the range of 82.30 and 82.80." Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.01 per cent to USD 88.56 per barrel on tighter supply outlook.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 137.71 points or 0.21 per cent higher at 65,524.87. The broader NSE Nifty advanced 56.30 points or 0.29 per cent to 19,491.60.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital markets on Friday as they purchased shares worth Rs 487.94 crore, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, India's forex reserves dropped by USD 30 million to USD 594.858 billion in the week ended August 25, the Reserve Bank said on Friday.

In the previous week, the overall reserves had dropped by USD 7.273 billion to USD 594.888 billion.