Rupee skids 21 paise to 75.20 against USD

The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 94.7779 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 69.95. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital markets on Friday, offloading shares worth Rs 1,031 crore, provisional exchange data showed Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst (Commodity & Currency) at LKP Securities, said the rupee ended lower on overseas fund outflows from local stocks amid a strong greenback.

The Indian rupee weakened by 21 paise to close at 75.20 against the US dollar on Friday amid foreign capital outflows and a firm greenback overseas. A weak trend at Asian equity markets following a spurt in COVID-19 cases also hit sentiment, forex traders said. The dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.09 per cent to 96.7910.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened weaker at 75.16 a dollar against the previous day's close of 74.99. During the session, it swung between a high of 75.12 and low of 75.33 before settling at 75.20, showing a loss of 21 paise.

On a weekly basis, the rupee logged a loss of 54 paise. "The USD/INR spot respected the crucial support of 74.50 and bounced towards 75.30 zone mainly on coronavirus concerns and RBI intervention," said Rahul Gupta, Head of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.

Also, the fear that renewed lockdown may derail economic recovery all over the world led traders to seek the shelter of gold, which is a safe-haven asset, he added. Global crude oil benchmark Brent futures fell 1.79 per cent to USD 41.59 per barrel.

On the equity market front, the BSE benchmark Sensex ended 143.36 points, or 0.39 per cent, lower at 36,594.33. The broader NSE Nifty shed 45.40 points, or 0.42 per cent, to close at 10,768.05. Meanwhile, India saw yet another record single-day jump of 26,506 COVID-19 cases, pushing its tally to 7,93,802 on Friday. The death toll climbed to 21,604, according to health ministry data. The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 75.0031 and for rupee/euro at 85.1875. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 94.7779 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 69.95.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital markets on Friday, offloading shares worth Rs 1,031 crore, provisional exchange data showed Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst (Commodity & Currency) at LKP Securities, said the rupee ended lower on overseas fund outflows from local stocks amid a strong greenback. Dollar index was seen trading up as rising COVID-19 cases in several US states stoked fears of a lockdown, which would hurt economic recovery, he added..

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