Rupee rises 8 paise to 83.89 against US dollar in early trade

The Indian rupee gained 8 paise against the US dollar in early Friday trading, reaching 83.89, supported by positive domestic stock market performance and a decline in the US dollar index. Forex traders noted that after the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy announcement, the markets are now anticipating upcoming data releases, including US CPI data, India’s CPI, WPI and IIP data, and India’s trade data, all scheduled for next week.

Additionally, the upcoming Jackson Holes Symposium will be closely watched by traders. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.95 against the dollar, reaching 83.89, marking an 8 paise increase over its previous closing price. The rupee was protected at 83.96 by the Reserve Bank of India for this week, and it is expected to trade in a narrow range of 83.90/84.00 for the day after the RBI kept key benchmark rates on hold.

Regarding other financial indicators, the dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.03% lower at 103.17. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.15% to USD 79.28 per barrel. Notably, the Indian rupee has been largely range-bound so far this financial year and the country’s forex reserves reached a record high of USD 675 billion as of August 2.

In the domestic stock market, the Sensex surged 958.63 points, or 1.22%, to reach 79,844.85 points, while the Nifty advanced 280.70 points, or 1.16%, to reach 24,397.70 points. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Thursday, offloading shares worth Rs 2,626.73 crore, according to exchange data.