The rupee fell 25 paise to 82.46 against the US dollar in early trading on Monday, pressured by firm crude oil prices and a negative trend in domestic stocks.
In the interbank exchange rate, the domestic unit opened weak at 82.44 against the dollar, then fell to 82.46, registering a drop of 25 paise compared to its last close.
On Friday, the rupee settled at 82.21 against the dollar.
The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.48 percent to 102.99.
Brent crude futures, the global benchmark for oil, rose 5.50% to $84.28 a barrel.
“…Rupiah appreciation will remain capped at the 81.50-81.80 area where the importer can target buying and the upside for now will remain protected towards the 82.70-82.90 region for this week,” said MD-Amit Pabari of CR Forex Advisors.
“With a shorter vacation week, the highlights would be the RBI policy due April 6 and US payrolls due April 7,” Pabari added.
The Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) will meet for three days, April 3, 5 and 6, to take into account various national and global factors before presenting the first bimonthly monetary policy for the fiscal year. 2023-24.
The RBI has already increased the repo rate by a total of 250 basis points since May in a bid to contain inflation, though it has remained above the central bank’s comfort zone of 6 percent for most of the time.
On the domestic stock market, the 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 64.56 points, or 0.11 percent lower, at 58,926.96. The broader NSE Nifty was down 9.60 points, or 0.06 percent, at 17,350.15.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital markets on Friday as they bought Rs 357.86 crore worth of shares, according to exchange data.