Mumbai, July 4 (PTI) The rupee paired its early losses to close almost flat at 78.95 against the US dollar on Monday due to weakness in the greenback, lower crude oil prices and gains in the local stock markets.
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened lower at 78.97 against the greenback and fell to an intra-day low of 79.06. It finally settled at 78.95, down by 1 paisa from its previous close of 78.94.
"Forex markets witnessed relatively less movement than usual as US markets remained closed on account of Independence Day. Nevertheless, the rupee outperformed regional currencies today after last week's worst performance on the back of capital outflows and worry over the twin deficit," said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.
Gaurang Somaiya, Forex & Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services said that the rupee consolidated in a narrow range and market participants remained on the sidelines as the US market was shut on account of the Independence day holiday.
"Euro and pound gained as the dollar retraced from higher levels," said .
Somaiya further said that on Friday, the manufacturing PMI number released from the US was in line with estimates. "Today no major economic data is expected to be released from the US. We expect the USDINR to trade sideways but with a positive bias quote in the range of 78.70 and 79.20," he said.
According to Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst at LKP Securities, the rupee traded in a small range between 78.85-79.05 with most of the day moving around 78.95 as markets await fresh triggers from dollar index, crude price move or capital markets strong fund inflow-outflow numbers.
"Any fall in USDINR is acting as buying dollars vs rupee. Crude price below USD 95 will be the only positive trigger that can help the rupee gain positive momentum. Range for rupee can be seen between 78.75-79.25," Trivedi said.
The Indian rupee ended marginally stronger against the American dollar tracking the weakness of crude oil in early trade and the strength of the local shares, said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.
However, persistent outflows of foreign capital from the local markets kept appreciation bias limited.
"Moreover, concerns over high inflation, a potential US recession, economic growth worries and concerns of widening trade deficit also added to the pressure," Iyer said.
Crude oil prices dropped nearly 1 per cent in early trade before recouping losses to trade over 1 per cent higher at USD 113.18 a barrel later due to supply concerns.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 326.84 points or 0.62 per cent higher at 53,234.77, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 83.30 points or 0.53 per cent to 15,835.35.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.13 per cent at 104.99.
Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,149.56 crore, as per exchange data.
Meanwhile, the country's foreign exchange reserves increased by USD 2.734 billion to USD 593.323 billion for the week ended June 24 on the back of a surge in the core currency assets, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.
