Rupee trades in narrow range against US dollar in early trade

The rupee witnessed range-bound trading in initial deals against the US dollar on April 2, weighed down by a strong American currency and elevated crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.37 against the greenback, then touched 83.35, registering a rise of 4 paise over its previous close.

On March 28, the rupee depreciated 6 paise to settle at 83.39 against the US dollar.

Forex market was closed on March 29 and April 1 on account of ‘Good Friday’ and the annual account closing of banks, respectively.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05% higher at 105.06.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 0.43% to $87.80 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex declined 59.21 points, or 0.08%, to 73,955.34 points. The Nifty fell 12.20 points, or 0.05%, to 22,449.80 points.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on April 1 as they offloaded shares worth ₹522.30 crore, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, India’s forex reserves increased by $140 million to touch an all-time high of $642.631 billion during the week ended March 22, the Reserve Bank said.

This is the fifth consecutive week of a jump in the overall reserves. The kitty had increased by $6.396 billion to $642.492 billion in the previous week.

On the domestic macroeconomic front, the government’s fiscal deficit at ₹15 lakh crore at February-end touched 86.5% of the revised annual target, according to official data released on Thursday.

Moreover, GST collections in March grew 11.5% to ₹1.78 lakh crore on higher domestic sales.