Mumbai: The rupee saw a marginal 3 paise loss to settle at 74.57 against the US dollar on Friday as consistent demand for the greenback from importers exerted pressure on the domestic currency.
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 74.53 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 74.51 and a low of 74.66 during the session. The local unit finally ended the day at 74.57, down 3 paise over its last close.
The Indian currency strengthened by 7 paise this week. In the previous week, it had gained 10 paise against the American currency.
“The Indian rupee ended flat on Friday but appreciated for a second straight week against the dollar, supported by inflows related to IPO and the dovish Fed chairman comments for the US monetary policy,” said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.
However, on Friday, the rupee could not sustain gains due to consistent dollar buying from state-run banks, likely on behalf of importers.
Possibility of the Reserve Bank of India buying dollars through also prevented the currency from appreciating sharply, Iyer said.
“Technically, the USD/INR Spot pair holds a resistance zone near 74.60-74.88 levels where it holds a strong support near 74.30-74.25 levels. It could see marginal upside momentum in coming week where breakout above 74.85 is waited for further upside movement,” Iyer added.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.06 per cent to 92.56.
—PTI

Press Trust of India