Good foreign capital inflows failed to restrict the rupee's fall against the dollar
Snapping its two-day winning spree, the rupee on Friday dropped by 16 paise to close at 67.07 a dollar on fresh demand for the US currency from banks and importers amid fall in domestic equities.
Good foreign capital inflows failed to restrict the rupee's fall against the dollar, a forex dealer said.
Foreign portfolio investors and foreign institutional investors bought shares worth a net Rs 1,461.26 crore on Friday, as per provisional data of the stock exchanges.
The rupee opened higher at 66.88 per dollar as against the yesterday's closing level of 66.91 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange (Forex) on initial selling of the US currency by exporters due to weakness of dollar.
However, dropped afterwards to 67.01350 on fag-end demand for dollars before finishing at 67.07, showing a loss of 16 paise or 0.24 per cent.
The domestic currency had gained by 27 paise or 0.40 per cent in the previous two days.
The domestic unit traded in a range of 66.83 and 67.1350 per dollar during the day.
The dollar index was trading lower by 0.12 per cent against a basket of six currencies in the late afternoon trade.
Meanwhile, the RBI fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 67.0655 and euro at 74.6037 on Friday.
In cross-currency trades, the rupee moved down against the pound sterling to finish at 89.78 from 89.51 yesterday and while recouped against the euro to 74.65 from 74.72.
The domestic currency fell against the Japanese yen to 63.34 per 100 yen as against 63.30.
Overseas, the yen weakened further against its rival currencies during Asian trade today, lower by nearly 1 per cent against the dollar to a fresh three-week low, with solid China growth data further brightening investors' sentiment to offload perceived safety of the Japanese currency.
Despite the Bank of England's surprising decision overnight to stand pat amid the uncertainty post-Brexit, risk taking sentiment has been kept intact with gains in global stock markets. The benchmark Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.68 per cent after a four-day winning streak.
In the forward market, premium for dollar eased on mild receivings from exporters.
The benchmark six-month premium for December eased to 182.5-183.5 paise from 184.5-185.5 paise yesterday and forward June 2017 contract also moved down to 381.5-382.5 paise from 383.5-384.5 paise.
Oil tumbled in Asia today as worries over a supply glut and weak demand returned, with some analysts forecasting crude prices could fall to $40 a barrel.
US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for delivery in August was down 18 cents, or 0.39 per cent, to $45.40 and Brent crude for September eased 16 cents, or 0.34 per cent, to $47.21 a barrel at around 0310 GM.
Meanwhile, the benchmark Sensex snapped its 4-day winnings spree, tumbling 106 points to end at 27,836.5 due to fresh selling pressure mainly in IT and Teck as IT major Infosys slashed full year revenue guidance.
