Rupee rises 13 paise to settle at 73.78 against US dollar

(Eds: Adds comments from analysts)
     Mumbai, May 6 (PTI) The Indian rupee strengthened by 13 paise to settle at 73.78 against the US dollar on Thursday, tracking positive domestic equities and weaker American currency against key rivals overseas.
     At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 73.87 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 73.77 and a low of 74.
     It finally ended at 73.78 against the American currency, registering a rise of 13 paise.
     The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.30 per cent to 91.03.
     On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 272.21 points or 0.56 per cent higher at 48,949.76, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 106.95 points or 0.73 per cent to 14,724.80.
     "Indian rupee continued upward momentum following stronger domestic equities and weaker dollar index. A gauge of dollar index edged lower after Federal Reserve officials played down concerns over inflation and pushed back on tapering talk," Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, said.
     According to Gaurang Somaiyaa, Forex and Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, the rupee continued to consolidate in a narrow range and reaction of the currency has been muted after the RBI governor’s unscheduled press conference held on Wednesday.
     The RBI governor announced that the second purchase of G-SEC for Rs 35,000 crore under G-SAP 1.0 will be conducted on May 20, 2021. Among liquidity measures, he announced on-tap liquidity window of Rs 50,000 crore with tenure of up to 3 years at repo rate being opened till March 31, 2022.
     "Overall commentary was dovish and we expect that sharp appreciation for the rupee could be curbed. We expect the USDINR (Spot) to trade with a positive bias and quote in the range of 73.60 and 74.20," Somaiyaa said.
     Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they sold shares worth Rs 1,222.58 crore, showed exchange data.
     Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.33 per cent to USD 68.73 per barrel. PTI DRR MKJ

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)