Rupee falls 17 paise to close at 82.23 against US dollar on FII outflows

     New Delhi, Mar 13 (PTI) The rupee pared its initial gains to settle 17 paise down at 82.23 against the US dollar on Monday, tracking losses in the domestic equity market and unabated foreign fund outflow.
     Traders said fall in crude oil price and a weaker dollar against major currencies, however, restricted the fall of the Indian currency.
     At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened stronger at 81.78 against the American currency and touched a low of 82.2375 during intra-day.
     Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, said: "Indian rupee becomes the worst performer among Asian currencies on the back of worsening risk appetite, fall in bond yields and foreign funds outflows."
     "In the short term, spot USDINR is expected to consolidate between 81.70 to 83," he said.
     "FII selling in capital markets gave rupee resistance near 81.75 and prices fell below 82.15. Rupee weakness will continue as long as the market witnesses FII's selling pressure. Rupee range can be seen between 81.70-82.45," Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst at LKP Securities said.
     Meanwhile, retail inflation dipped marginally to 6.44 per cent in February, mainly on account of a slight easing in prices of food and fuel items though it remained above the Reserve Bank's comfort level of 6 per cent for the second month in a row.
     The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.37 per cent to 104.19.
     Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures declined 1.72 per cent to USD 81.36 per barrel.
     On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 897.28 points or 1.52 per cent to end at 58,237.85, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 258.60 points or 1.49 per cent to 17,154.30.
     Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,546.86 crore, according to exchange data.
     Investors were trading cautiously as they were concerned over the developments following the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank in the US.

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