Rupee slips 6 paise to 74.94 against US dollar as COVID cases spike

The rupee weakened further by 6 paise to close at 74.94 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday as a persistent rise in COVID-19 cases and enhanced restrictions imposed by a number of states weighed on investor sentiment.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 75.25 against the greenback and traded in the range of 74.82 to 75.26 during the day.

The rupee finally ended at 74.94 against the American currency, registering a fall of 6 paise over its previous close. On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 74.88 against the American currency.

Forex and equity markets were closed on Wednesday on account of 'Ram Navami'.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.07 per cent to 91.09.

India registered over 3.14 lakh new coronavirus cases in a day, the highest-ever single-day count recorded in any country, taking the total tally of COVID-19 cases in the country to 1,59,30,965.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were trading 0.54 per cent down at USD 64.97 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 374.87 points or 0.79 per cent higher at 48,080.67, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 109.75 points or 0.77 per cent to 14,406.15.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 1,082.33 crore on Tuesday, as per provisional data.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)