Rupee down 26 paise against US dollar

Mumbai: The rupee opened on a cautious note and fell 26 paise to 69.06 against the US dollar in early trade Monday amid heavy selling in domestic equities and rising crude oil prices.

Forex traders said strengthening of the greenback vis-a-vis other currencies overseas and foreign fund outflows weighed on the local unit.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened at 68.95 then fell to 69.06 against the US dollar, showing a decline of 26 paise over its previous closing.

The Indian rupee Friday had closed at 68.80 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, brent crude futures, the global oil



benchmark, rose 1.38 per cent to USD 63.33 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 950.15 crore Friday, as per provisional data.

According to analysts. foreign portfolio investors pulled out around Rs 7,712 crore from Indian equities in this month so far following the 'super-rich' tax announced in the budget for 2019-20.

Meanwhile, domestic bourses opened on a negative note Monday with benchmark indices Sensex trading 346.72 points down at 37,990.29 and Nifty lower by 99.45 points at 11,319.80.