Rupee slips 9 paise to 68.80 in early trade; rising oil prices, foreign fund outflows weigh on domestic currency

Mumbai: The rupee opened on a cautious note and fell 9 paise to 68.80 against the US dollar in early trade Wednesday amid rising crude oil prices and foreign fund outflows.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened at 68.69 then fell to 68.80 against the US dollar, showing a decline of 9 paise over its previous closing.

The Indian rupee Tuesday had closed at 68.71 against the US dollar.

Forex traders said rising Brent crude prices and foreign fund inflows weighed on the domestic currency, while weakening of the greenback vis-a-vis other currencies overseas and positive opening in domestic equities added support to the local unit and restricted the downfall.

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.30 percent to $ 64.54 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 444.99 crore Tuesday, as per provisional data.

Domestic bourses opened on a cautious note Wednesday with benchmark indices Sensex trading 75.05 points up at 39,206.09 and Nifty up 21.55 points at 11,684.15.

Meanwhile, on the global front, the Trump administration has said that there is an “enormous potential” for growth in the India-US relationship and has exuded confidence that the ongoing trade issues could be worked through because of the friendship between the two nations.

“As it relates to our trade relationship, the secretary (of state) has said this as well when we were in India: that we see a lot of opportunity for growth in our relationship. We see enormous potential,” State Department Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday.