The rupee declined for the second consecutive day, losing 7 paise to 82.16 against the US dollar on Friday as investor confidence was dampened by a strong foreign dollar. However, dealers indicated that a rising trend in domestic equities and unabated foreign capital inflows helped to soften the decline.
The rupee’s intraday high against the dollar was 82.09, and its low was 82.23, during the course of the session. The rupee’s closing price versus the U.S. dollar on Thursday was 82.09. Investors exercised caution before to the release of inflation data later in the day, they noted.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened weakly against the U.S. dollar at 82.11 and fell 7 paise to settle at 82.16 (provisional).
The dollar index, which measures the value of the dollar against a basket of six different currencies, increased 0.03 percent to 101.90. Benchmark Brent crude futures for world crude oil declined 0.07 percent to USD 74.93 per barrel.
The 30-share BSE Sensex finished the day up 123.38 points, or 0.20 percent, at 62,027.90, and the larger NSE Nifty finished the day up 17.80 points, or 0.10 percent, at 18,314.80.
According to exchange data, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net purchasers on Thursday in the capital market, buying shares worth Rs 837.21 crore.