Rupee ends 7 paise weaker at 73.53 against USD

Mumbai: The rupee settled 7 paise lower at 73.53 against the US dollar on Friday as forex market sentiment turned lacklustre looking at geopolitical developments and mixed global cues.
Weaker American dollar and lower crude oil price, however, lent some support to the rupee, helping it restrict losses to some extent.
Starting off the session on a tepid note, the Indian currency moved between a high of 73.40 and low of 73.61 to the US dollar during the session. It finally ended the day at 73.53, down 7 paise over its previous close.
On a weekly basis, the domestic currency lost 39 paise against the US dollar – the first weekly drop for the rupee after four successive weeks of gains.
“The Indian Rupee ended marginally weak on Friday and logged its worst week against the dollar in two months amid a recovery of the greenback and escalating tensions between India and China,” said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst, Reliance Securities.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.14 per cent to 93.20.
While, global crude oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.85 per cent to USD 39.72 per barrel.
“Indian rupee erased Thursday’s gain and marked the first weekly loss after four consecutive weekly gains,” said Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE benchmark Sensex ended 14.23 points or 0.04 per cent higher at 38,854.55. The broader NSE Nifty rose 15.20 points or 0.13 per cent to close at 11,464.45.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,175.81 crore on a net basis on Friday, exchange data showed.
Meanwhile, India and China have agreed on a five-point road map including quick disengagement of troops and avoiding any action that could escalate tensions for resolving the four-month-long face-off in eastern Ladakh.
On COVID-19 front, a roadblock in coronavirus vaccine trials weighed on forex market sentiment, traders said.
Serum Institute of India has said it is putting on hold clinical trials of an experimental COVID-19 vaccine for which it has been enlisted to manufacture a billion doses.
“Delay of a possible COVID-19 vaccine and fresh Brexit concerns also weighed on the currency as markets turned cautious,” Reliance Securities’ Iyer said.
India’s COVID-19 caseload has sprinted past 45 lakh and the death toll climbed to 76,271, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

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