Rupee pares early gains, settles 5 paise lower at 73.36 against US dollar

The rupee pared its initial gains and settled 5 paise lower at 73.36 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday tracking heavy selling in domestic equities and strengthening American currency.

At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 73.32 against the greenback, and after witnessing a volatile trading session closed at 73.36, lower by 5 paise from its previous close of 73.31.

During the session, the rupee witnessed an intra-day high of 73.22 and a low of 73.41 against the US dollar.

Forex traders said rising COVID-19 cases and uncertainty over US stimulus affected investor sentiment.

Further, strengthening American currency and heavy selling in domestic equities also weighed on the domestic currency.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenbacks strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.34 per cent to 93.69.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 866.09 points lower at 39,928.65, and the broader NSE Nifty fell 236 points to 11,735.05.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 821.86 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.27 per cent to USD 42.77 per barrel.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Federal staff and is auto-published from a syndicated feed.)