Rupee gains 4 paise to 82.29 against U.S. dollar in early trade

The rupee was trading in a narrow range against the U.S. dollar in opening trade on October 13, tracking a muted trend in domestic equities amid weak domestic macroeconomic data.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee witnessed range-bound trading in early deals. It opened at 82.30 against the U.S. dollar, then rose to 82.29, registering a gain of 4 paise over the last close.

It was moving in a tight range of 82.25 to 82.34 in the morning trade.

Also read: Rupee falls 14 paise to 82.35 against U.S. dollar in early trade

On October 12, the rupee fell by 12 paise to close at 82.33 against the U.S. dollar.

The rupee started with small gains ahead of U.S. CPI data that could aid investors to evaluate the size of rate hikes that the Fed is likely to deliver this year, said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.

A fall in the crude prices could aid sentiments, but most Asian and emerging market peers were weaker this Thursday morning as the FOMC minutes revealed that the Fed will continue its aggressive monetary policy stance and will cap gains for the local unit, Mr. Iyer added.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.02% to 113.29.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.01% to $92.46 per barrel.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 109.06 points or 0.19% down at 57,516.85, and the broader NSE Nifty fell 25.85 points or 0.15% to 17,097.75.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets as they offloaded shares worth ₹542.36 crore on Wednesday, according to exchange data.

On the domestic macroeconomic front, higher food prices drove retail inflation to a five-month high of 7.4%, while India’s industrial production slipped to an 18-month low, contracting by 0.8% in August, mainly due to a decline in output of the manufacturing and mining sectors.

The second consecutive month of rise in consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation will add to the pressure on the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to again raise interest rates to tame high prices.