Mumbai: The Indian rupee declined against the US dollar in early trade on Thursday. As per forex traders, a lower American currency and crude oil prices failed to boost sentiment amid volatile equity markets and foreign funds outflow.
The local currency found support initially amid the US move to delay implementation of higher tariffs on Canada and Mexico. Also, RBI’s decision to infuse Rs 1.9 trillion liquidity into the banking system added strength to the domestic unit. However, volatile equity markets played a spoilsport and pushed back the local unit to the negative territory.
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At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened stronger at 86.96, and traded at 87.11 against the US dollar, registering a loss of 5 paise from its previous closing level. The rupee settled 13 paise higher at 87.06 against the US dollar on Wednesday, the third straight day of gain. In the preceding two sessions, the unit had gained 18 paise.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the SU dollar’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading marginally higher by 0.05 per cent at 104.30.Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded Indian equities worth Rs 2,895.04 crore on net basis.