Rupee Declines 10 Paise To 95.55 Against US Dollar In Early Trade

The rupee fell 10 paise to 95.55 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, weighed by FII outflows and sustained disruptions in global crude oil supplies.

However, a marginally weaker greenback and a fall in global crude oil prices to levels below $90/barrel prevented a sharper decline in the local unit, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 95.54 against the greenback before slipping further to 95.55, down 10 paise from its previous close.

The rupee pared initial gains and settled for the day lower by 1 paise at 95.45 against the US dollar on Thursday.

"The rupee is expected to be in a narrow range of 95.40 to 95.60 (on Friday) with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) protecting the upper end, while the lower end is bought by oil importers, month-end demand and importers," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.

Forex traders further said market participants will closely monitor US Fed Chair Kevin Warsh's speech at the Jackson Hole Symposium.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 99.14, lower by 0.01%.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.48% at USD at 89.27 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic market front, Sensex rose 245.56 points to 77,191.80 in early trade while the Nifty was up 54.20 points to 24,147.50.

Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth ₹298.26 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.