Rupee slips 3 paise to settle at 76.18 against US dollar

The rupee declined 3 paise to close at 76.18 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday, tracking the strength of the greenback in the overseas market and weak domestic macroeconomic data.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened lower at 76.15 against the American currency, then slipped further to 76.26. It finally settled at 76.18, down 3 paise over its previous close.

On Tuesday, the rupee fell 24 paise to end at 76.15.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.13 per cent higher at 100.42.

"The US Dollar index broke above the USD 100 mark (a level that was last seen in May, 2020) post the CPI data release yesterday," according to Emkay Global Financial Services.

The US CPI report released on Tuesday showed that inflation in the United States rose to a four-decade high of 8.50 per cent in March.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures jumped 0.46 per cent to USD 105.12 per barrel.

On the geopolitical front, Russian President Vladimir Putin said peace talks with Ukraine had reached a dead end. Reports suggested that Russian oil and gas condensate production fell to 2020 lows, which triggered a strong bounce in Brent crude oil prices and in-turn hurt the rupee, Emkay Global Financial Services said.

"Moving ahead, the Rupee needs to strengthen below 75.80 to see a re-test of 75.40 areas again, else the weakness will extend towards 76.45 levels," it added.

The 30-share BSE Sensex ended 237.44 points or 0.41 per cent lower at 58,338.93, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 54.65 points or 0.31 per cent to 17,475.65.

On the domestic macroeconomic front, retail inflation soared to a 17-month high of 6.95 per cent in March, continuing to remain above the Reserve Bank's upper tolerance level, while factory output grew just 1.7 per cent in February, as per official data.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 3,128.39 crore, according to stock exchange data.