Rupee gains 7 paise to touch 74.10 against US dollar in early trade

The Indian rupee gained 7 paise and touched 74.10 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, after the RBI kept interest rate unchanged and decided to continue with its accommodative stance as long as necessary.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 74.11 against the dollar, then inched higher to 74.10, registering a gain of 7 paise over its previous close.

On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 74.17 against the US dollar.

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The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday decided to keep benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 per cent but maintained an accommodative stance as the economy is yet to recover from the impact of second Covid wave.

Observing that economy is slowly recovery from brief hiatus, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said, some of the high frequency indicators reflect recovery. Consumption, investment and external demand are on path of regaining traction, the governor said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.12 per cent up at 92.35.

On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 78.33 points or 0.14 per cent higher at 54,571.17, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 28.70 points or 0.18 per cent to 16,323.30.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 719.88 crore, as per exchange data.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures advanced 0.22 per cent to $71.45 per barrel.