Rupee falls 12 paise to close at 95.45 against US dollar

MUMBAI: The rupee depreciated 12 paise to 95.45 against the US dollar on Thursday, weighed by weak domestic markets and persistent foreign fund outflows amid lingering geopolitical risks.

Forex traders said investor sentiment remains fragile on the delay in the deal between the US and Iran and the broad strength of the American currency in the overseas markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 95.40 against the greenback and traded in a range of 95.35-95.48 during the session. It eventually settled at 95.45 (provisional), lower by 12 paise from its previous close.

On Wednesday, the rupee settled just 3 paise higher at 95.33 against the US dollar. "We expect the rupee to trade with a slight negative bias on the delay in the deal between the US and Iran and a strong dollar. However, renewed hopes of talks and softening of crude oil prices may support the rupee at lower levels.

"Any intervention by the RBI may also support the rupee at lower levels. Traders may take cues from US PPI inflation and weekly unemployment claims data. USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 95.20 to 95.70," said Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan.

On the domestic macroeconomic front, retail inflation inched up to 4.45 per cent in July on expensive kitchen staples, including onion and ginger, even as the price rise remained above the Reserve Bank's median target for the second consecutive month. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 99.89, down 0.11 per cent.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 1.51 per cent at USD 87.64 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex rose 113.61 points to settle at 78,079.96, while Nifty dipped 40.10 points to 24,395.85.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 1,002.50 crore on a net basis on Wednesday, according to exchange data.