Rupee falls 14 paise against US dollar in early trade

Mumbai: The rupee depreciated 14 paise to 77.69 against the US dollar in the opening trade on Tuesday tracking persistent foreign fund outflows and elevated global crude oil prices.

However, a firm trend in domestic equities capped the losses in the domestic unit, forex traders said. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened weak at 77.67 against the American dollar, then lost further ground to quote at 77.69, registering a fall of 14 paise from the last close. The local currency also touched its record intra-day low of 77.71 to a dollar in early deals. In the previous session, the rupee had settled at an all-time low of 77.55 against the American



currency.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.01 per cent lower at 104.19. On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 291.04 points or 0.55 per cent higher at 53,264.88, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 93.90 points or 0.59 per cent to 15,936.20.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 0.25 per cent to USD 113.95 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,788.93 crore, as per stock exchange data.