Rupee gains 12 paise against US dollar on rally in equities

The rupee appreciated 12 paise to close at 82.08 against the US currency on Friday, supported by a rebound in domestic equities and easing crude oil prices.

However, corporate dollar demand and weak macroeconomic data weighed on investor sentiments and restricted the sharp gain in the rupee, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 82.15 against the US dollar and finally settled at 82.08, registering a gain of 12 paise over its previous close of 82.20.

During the trading session, the rupee swung between a low of 82.31 and a high of 81.76 against the dollar.

Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities said the Indian rupee recovered after touching a three-week low as bargain buying emerged in domestic equities. The long unwinding in the dollar, and expected intervention along with the weaker crude and dollar index supported the rupee to gain on Friday.

''Next week, the focus will remain on the RBI monetary policy decision after the recent growth-focused budget from the government,'' Parmar said, adding that Spot USD/INR has resistance between 82.50 to 82.75 while on the lower side, 81.50 becomes good support.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, declined 0.12 per cent to 101.63.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures advanced 0.39 per cent to USD 82.49 per barrel.

''Indian Rupee appreciated on a rebound in domestic equities and weakness in crude oil prices. However, positive US Dollar capped sharp gains,'' said Anuj Choudhary - Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Choudhary further noted that the rupee depreciated earlier today as PMI data was disappointing. India's services PMI fell to 57.2 in January from 58.5 in December, while the composite PMI fell to 57.5 from 59.4 during the same period.

''We expect the rupee to trade with a slight positive bias as a rebound in domestic equities may lead to fresh foreign inflows. Decline in crude oil prices and weak dollar amid dovish Fed may support rupee at lower levels,'' Choudhary said.

Market participants may remain cautious ahead of non-farm payrolls and ISM services PMI data from the US. While the payroll data is expected to show a slowdown in the pace of job additions, services PMI is expected to show the sector move to expansion territory, Choudhary added.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 909.64 points or 1.52 per cent to end at 60,841.88, while the broader NSE Nifty rose 243.65 points or 1.38 per cent to 17,854.05.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 932.44 crore, according to exchange data.

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