The rupee on Friday settled almost flat at 73.35 against the US dollar in the absence of any fresh trigger.

At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 73.41 against the greenback, and after witnessing a volatile trading session closed at 73.35, higher by just 1 paisa from its previous close of 73.36.

During the session, the rupee witnessed an intra-day high of 73.27 and a low of 73.42 against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.16 per cent to 93.70.

“There are no fresh cues in the market to react to and that is why we are seeing USD/INR spot consolidating in between 73-73.60. Somewhere market has factored in a likelihood of no US stimulus package before the election but knowing Trump, we cannot rule out the fact that he may release some deal next week,” said Rahul Gupta, Head of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.

Further, Gupta said “until the deal is released we won’t see optimism in market sentiments and USD/INR spot will follow the direct relationship with dollar index. With US elections just around the corner, we expect the uncertainty may lead USD/INR spot swing within the broader range of 73-74“.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 248.04 points higher at 39,976.45, and the broader NSE Nifty rose 74.50 points to 11,754.85.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth ₹604.07 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.58 per cent to USD 42.91 per barrel.

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