Rupee slips 6 paise to 77.74 against US dollar

The rupee depreciated by 6 paise to close at 77.74 against the US dollar on Thursday, weighed down by elevated crude oil prices and persistent foreign capital outflows.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened lower at 77.74 against the greenback and tumbled to an all-time low of 77.81.

It finally settled at 77.74, down 6 paise over its previous close of 77.68.

''Volatility in rupee remained low even after the release of RBI policy statement,'' said Gaurang Somaiya, Forex & Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

''Major crosses remain under pressure following broader strength in the dollar. Focus will be on the European Central Bank (ECB) policy statement and hawkish comments could restrict major weakness for the Euro,'' Somaiya said, adding, ''We expect the USD-INR to trade sideways and quote in the range of 77.40 and 78.05.'' Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.06 per cent lower at 102.48.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures declined 0.23 per cent to USD 123.29 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex ended 427.79 points or 0.78 per cent higher at 55,320.28, while the broader NSE Nifty surged 121.85 points or 0.74 per cent to 16,478.10.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,512.64 crore, as per stock exchange data.

Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst at LKP Securities, said, ''Rupee traded in a range-bound session between 77.70-77.80 as the prices of Crude traded volatile. Crude above USD 120 in WTI is now a concern for all the markets and nations, especially the ones that are net importers like India.'' ''Crude prices above USD 125 will unsettle the broad markets and volatility will increase along with fund outflows from domestic markets. Hence, pressure on the rupee will increase if crude starts trading and settling above USD 125. Rupee can be seen in a range of 77.55-77.95 till then,'' he noted.