Rupee rises 5 paise to 83.46 against dollar

Mumbai: The rupee appreciated 5 paise to settle at 83.46 against the US dollar on Wednesday as weakness in the greenback against major crosses overseas supported the local unit.

However, sustained foreign fund outflows and a weak trend in domestic equities weighed on the local unit.

With foreign investors buying US dollars and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) selling the greenback, the USD/INR pair is expected to remain range-bound with a bit of a weakness bias, according to forex traders.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.49. During the session, it traded in a narrow range of 83.51-83.47.

The domestic unit finally settled at 83.46, higher by 5 paise from its previous close.

The rupee gained on weakness in the US Dollar. However, weak domestic markets and FII selling capped sharp gains, said Anuj Choudhary – Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was at 104.85, lower by 0.15 per cent, as Fed Chair, Jerome Powell dismissed the hot PPI data as not so hot after March’s reading was revised lower.