Rupee falls 14 paise against U.S. dollar in early trade

The rupee depreciated 14 paise to 76.31 against the U.S. dollar in opening trade on Friday, as a lacklustre trend in the domestic equity markets and a firm American dollar weighed on investor sentiment.

However, a pullback in international crude prices restricted the losses, Forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened sharply lower against the U.S. dollar, and was moving in a tight range with a negative bias. It was trading at 76.31 in early deals, registering a fall of 14 paise over the last close.

In the previous session, the rupee rose 13 paise to close at 76.17 against the U.S. dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.04% to 100.65.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 588.97 points or 1.02% lower at 57,418.86, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 175.55 points or 1.01% to 17,217.05.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 1.13% to $107.11 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth ₹713.69 crore, as per stock exchange data.