Mumbai, June 25: The rupee appreciated 10 paise to settle at 94.45 against the US dollar on Thursday, following lower global crude oil prices and a positive trend in domestic equities.
A marginally weak greenback further supported the local unit while FII outflows prevented sharper gains, forex traders said.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 94.30 against the dollar and traded in the range of 94.13-94.56. It finally settled at 94.45, up 10 paise from the previous close.
The rupee appreciated 21 paise to settle at 94.55 against the US dollar on Wednesday.
The currency market will be closed on Friday for Muharram.
“The rupee strengthened on falling commodity prices and softening of the US dollar. Weakness in crude oil prices and positive domestic markets also favoured the rupee,” Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan, said.
“We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias on overall strength in the US dollar due to the hawkish Federal Reserve. However, softening of commodity prices and easing concerns over inflation may support the rupee at lower levels,” Choudhary said, adding that the rupee is expected to trade in the range of 94.20-94.80.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 101.57, lower by 0.04 per cent.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 1.33 per cent at USD 72.76 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex rose 109.25 points to settle at 77,100.47, while the Nifty inched up 34.35 points to 24,056.
Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 383.76 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data. (PTI)
