Mumbai, Jul 17 (PTI) The rupee rose 14 paise to settle at 96.28 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday on possible intervention from the Reserve Bank of India after four consecutive sessions of decline.
Elevated tensions in West Asia, which pushed up global oil prices, maintained pressure on the local unit, forex traders said.
In the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 96.35 against the greenback and traded in a narrow range of 96.27-96.41. Eventually it settled at 96.28 (provisional), up 14 paise from its previous close.
The rupee depreciated for the fourth straight day on Thursday, shedding 17 paise to settle at 96.42 against the US dollar.
The US expanded its airstrike campaign against Iran early on Friday by increasingly hitting bridges, part of President Donald Trump’s threats to start striking infrastructure to pressure Tehran to ease its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Iran launched new missile attacks against US-allied nations in West Asia and warned that its attacks would escalate.
“The rupee was broadly steady on Friday after a likely Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervention halted its four-day decline,” Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
“With no major domestic triggers, the currency continued to consolidate after recent weakness. However, the broader bias for the rupee remains weak as elevated crude oil prices and cautious foreign fund flows continue to weigh on sentiment.
“Market participants will closely monitor global developments, crude oil movement, and FII activity for the next directional move,” Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst — Commodity and Currency, LKP Securities, said.
Technically, the rupee is expected to trade in the 96.00-96.55 range, with the overall trend continuing to favour weakness, Trivedi said.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading marginally down by 0.01 per cent at 100.75.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 1.60 per cent higher at USD 85.58 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 964.58 points to settle at 78,151.45, while Nifty surged 261.55 points to 24,334.30.
Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 4,205.56 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.
