Rupee rises 13 paise to 90.34 against dollar

Mumbai: The rupee appreciated 13 paise to close at 90.34 against the US dollar on Thursday, on trade deal optimism and overnight decline in commodity prices, even as the upside remained capped as investors look for more clarity on the India-US trade deal.

Forex traders said significant corporate dollar demand and a weak trend in domestic equities restricted the upside for the local unit.

Notwithstanding the trade-deal optimism, forex traders said market participants are now shifting focus from celebration to verification as no official documents have been released, and neither side has formally published the final terms.

Moreover, investors are awaiting cues from Friday’s RBI interest rate announcement.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.52 and touched an early high of 90.06 and a low of 90.53 against the greenback.

The domestic unit finally settled at 90.34, higher by 13 paise from its previous close.

According to Choudhary USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 90 to 90.50.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.29 per cent higher at 97.90.

Foreign Institutional Investors turned net sellers after two days and offloaded equities worth Rs 2,150.51 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.