Mumbai, Jun 30 (PTI) The rupee pared initial gains and settled for the day in the negative territory, down 26 paise at 85.76 against the US dollar on Monday, on weak domestic equities and a bounce back in crude oil prices.
Forex traders said the rupee opened in the positive on improved global risk sentiments, however, a negative trend in domestic equities dented investor sentiments and dragged down the local unit.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 85.48 against the US dollar and witnessed an intra-day high of 85.44 and low of 85.77 before settling at 85.76, down 26 paise from its previous close.
On Friday, the rupee rose 22 paise to close at 85.50 against the greenback.
"Indian rupee declined on Monday on weak domestic equities and a bounce back in crude oil prices. Month-end dollar demand also pressured the domestic currency," said Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst at Mirae Asset Sharekhan.
However, a weak tone in the US dollar prevented a sharp fall in the rupee. The US dollar fell on better-than-expected inflation data from the US, Choudhary said.
"We expect the rupee to gain on weakness in the US dollar in improved global risk sentiments. However, any recovery in crude oil prices may cap sharp gains," Choudhary said, adding, "USDINR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 85.30 to 85.85".
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.26 per cent to 97.14.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, went down 0.28 per cent to USD 67.58 per barrel in futures trade.
"The US dollar fell a bit on Monday to 97.22 remaining close to multi-year lows and weighed by optimism over trade deals as well as growing expectations of the FED reserve cutting interest rates in the near future," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex fell 452.44 points, or 0.54 per cent, to close at 83,606.46, while the Nifty declined 120.75 points, or 0.47 per cent, to 25,517.05.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 831.50 crore on a net basis on Monday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, NSO data showed that India's industrial production (IIP) growth slowed to a nine-month low of 1.2 per cent in May 2025 due to poor performance of manufacturing, mining and power sectors caused by the early onset of monsoon, according to official data released on Monday.
The central government's fiscal deficit fell to 0.8 per cent of the full-year target at the end of May, mainly due to a Rs 2.69 lakh crore dividend received from the Reserve Bank of India.
The fiscal deficit, or gap between the government's expenditure and revenue, had touched 11.9 per cent of the Budget Estimates (BE) for 2025-26 or Rs 1.86 lakh crore in April.
Meanwhile, India's forex reserves dropped USD 1.01 billion to USD 697.93 billion during the week ended June 20, the Reserve Bank of India said on Friday.
In the previous week, the reserves had jumped USD 2.29 billion to USD 698.95 billion. Forex reserves had touched an all-time high of USD 704.885 billion in September 2024.