Rupee slips by 2 paise to end at 74.68 as crude firms up

The rupee pared initial gains to settle down by two paise at 74.68 against the US dollar on Monday due to firming crude oil prices and dollar buying by importers.

Gains in domestic equities, foreign fund inflows and a weak US currency helped restrict rupee losses, forex dealers said.

In a highly volatile session, the rupee opened at 74.53 against the US dollar and touched an intra-day high of 74.52 and a low of 74.82.

The domestic unit finally closed at 74.68 against the US dollar, down two paise over its previous close of 74.66 on Friday.

“Despite lower safe-haven currencies, the rupee was unable to add gains today amid higher crude oil prices and bargain buying of dollars by the importers. The Indian rupee gained 1.32 per cent or one rupee a dollar in the previous week,” Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head of Retail Research, HDFC Securities said.

Vakil further said that the trend for the Indian rupee remains on bullish side following weaker dollar index and foreign fund inflows.

“Spot USDINR has support at 74.30 and resistance at 75 for next couple of days,” he said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.24 per cent to 96.94.