Rupee falls 8 paise to 95.25 against US dollar in early trade

MUMBAI: The rupee fell 8 paise to 95.25 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, weighed down by a stronger greenback and a rise in global crude oil prices.

However, FII inflows and a rise in the country's forex reserves capped a sharper fall in the local unit, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 95.18 before slipping further to 95.25, down 8 paise from its previous close.

The rupee settled with a 5 paise gain at 95.17 against the US dollar on Friday.

"Overall, USD/INR remained range-bound around 95.20-95.30, with the rupee ending the session (on Friday) marginally stronger. Strong forex reserves also provided confidence and limited dollar-demand pressure," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.

"Exporters may sell upticks up to 95.40 on Monday while importers are likely to buy dips at 95. Traders will keep a close watch on developments in West Asia as well as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)," he said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 99.70, up 0.17 per cent.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 0.91 per cent at USD 84.31 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex was down marginally by 19.38 points to 78,479.79 in early trade on Monday while the Nifty slipped 5.10 points to 24,567.45.

Foreign institutional investors purchased equities worth Rs 480.24 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.

The RBI data released on Friday showed the country's forex reserves jumped by USD 10.512 billion to USD 692.866 billion during the week ended July 31. The overall kitty had jumped by USD 6.118 billion to USD 682.354 billion in the previous reporting week.