Rupee Weakens: Falls 8 Paise to 82.14 Against US Dollar in Early Trade

The early trade on Friday saw the rupee weaken by 8 paise to 82.14 against the US dollar, impacted by foreign fund outflows and losses in domestic equities. The domestic unit started off weak at 82.12 versus the dollar and fell further to 82.14.

CR Forex Advisors MD Amit Pabari stated that the 81.70-80 zone seemed to be protected by importer’s dollar demand and suspected RBI intervention, which brought the INR back to 82.00 levels.

However, prospects of further FDI flows and the March seasonality due to the financial year-end could help the rupee limit losses, despite weaker Asian peers over the past month. The dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, dipped 0.11% to 105.18.

On the domestic front, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 792.66 points or 1.33% lower at 59,013.62 points, and the broader NSE Nifty declined 200.35 points or 1.14% to 17,389.25 points.

According to exchange data, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 561.78 crore.