Rupee skids 23 paise to close at 75.42 against US dollar

The Indian rupee tumbled 23 paise to settle at 75.42 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday as risk appetite remained weak amid heavy selling in domestic equities and strengthening American currency.

The rupee, which had opened at 75.33 at the interbank forex market, lost ground and settled at 75.42 against US dollar, down 23 paise over its last close.

It had settled at 75.19 against the US dollar on Monday.

During the four-hour trading session, the rupee witnessed an intra-day high of 75.28 and a low of 75.49 against the US dollar.

Forex traders said steady crude oil prices supported the rupee, but risk appetite remained weak amid rising tensions between US and China.

Besides, investor sentiment weakened after India's June Consumer Price Index (CPI) breached Reserve Bank of India's tolerance band of 6 per cent, traders said adding that factors like strong dollar, negative domestic equities and rising Covid-19 cases dragged the local unit down.

Retail inflation increased to 6.09 per cent in June, mainly on account of higher prices of food items, government data showed on Monday.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.17 per cent to 97.62.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 591.47 points lower at 36,102.22 and the broader NSE Nifty fell 178.15 points to 10,624.55.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 221.76 crore on Monday, according to provisional exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.26 per cent to USD 42.18 per barrel.

Meanwhile, the number of cases around the world linked to COVID-19 has crossed 1.31 crore and the death toll has topped 5.73 lakh.

In India, the death toll due the disease rose to 23,727 and the number of infections crossed 9-lakh mark, according to the health ministry.