The Indian rupee depreciated by 6 paise against the US dollar, reaching 83.13 in the morning session. The decline is attributed to elevated crude oil prices and increased demand for the dollar from importers. The rupee had opened at 83.11 against the dollar and touched an early high of 83.09. Despite positive domestic equities, the rupee's narrow trading range is influenced by foreign fund outflows.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were trading slightly lower at USD 80.04 per barrel. The increase in Brent oil prices is driven by supply concerns due to disruptions in the US and Russia.
Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, noted that caution before central bank meetings is keeping oil prices muted, while inflows are expected to dominate the session as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and oil companies buy dollars to protect against significant rupee gains.
In the equity market, the BSE Sensex was trading higher by 0.67%, and the NSE Nifty rose by 0.64%. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers on Saturday, offloading shares worth Rs 545.58 crore. Additionally, India's forex reserves increased by USD 1.634 billion to USD 618.937 billion for the week ended January 12, as reported by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
(With Agency Inputs)
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