Indian rupee rises 4 paise to 79.80 against the U.S. dollar in opening trade on Monday, supported by falling crude prices in global markets and weakness in the American currency overseas. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened lower at 79.90 against the dollar but recovered lost ground to quote 79.80, ender a gain of 4 paise over its earlier close.
In the previous session, the rupee had declined 20 paise to close at 79.84 against the dollar. For USD/INR, we are here again to test the 80.00 mark with 79.70 acting as a support while 80.25/30 is a resistance. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.05 % to 108.11. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, reduced 1.14 % to USD 95.62 per barrel.
India’s foreign exchange reserves have decreased to $570.7 billion from a record high of about $642 billion in September 2021 as the RBI has stepped in to support the rupee. Still, the domestic currency is down 7.5% in 2022, and on track for its worst annual performance in four years.
A bounce back in inflows into Indian stocks in the past few days, with foreign investors turning buyers for the first time in nine months, has helped the rupee to an extent.