Rupee settles 18 paise lower against US dollar

The rupee pared initial gains to settle 18 paise lower at 73.79 against the US dollar on Monday on account of suspected oil related dollar buying. The local unit opened 3 paise lower at 73.64 at the interbank forex market. During the session, the domestic unit witnessed an intra-day high of 73.53 and a low of 73.86. It finally closed at 73.79 against the greenback, down 18 paise over its previous close.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.16 per cent to 94.49. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.57 per cent to USD 41.68 per barrel.

Gaurang Somaiya, Forex and Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, said, "Rupee consolidated in a narrow range in the first half of the session but was weighed down in the latter half following suspected oil related dollar buying." Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head Retail Research, HDFC Securities said, "Indian rupee fell 18 paise to 73.79 a dollar on back of month end dollar demand partially on back of some dollar outflows." Vakil further said the "the near term trend in rupee will be directed by the industrial activity data and how the dollar index moves ahead of the US election." Market participants remained cautious ahead of the important RBI policy statement that was supposed to be released this week. But the meeting is now postponed and dates of the same will be announced shortly. Forex traders said investors are looking for cues from the first presidential debate between US President Donald Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden, set for Tuesday.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex settled 592.97 points or 1.59 per cent higher at 37,981.63, while the NSE Nifty surged 177.30 points or 1.60 per cent to 11,227.55. Forex traders said market sentiment remains fragile around COVID-19, US election, Brexit and data headlines this week.