Rupee falls 36 paise to close at 90.70 against US dollar

Mumbai: The rupee declined 36 paise to settle at 90.70 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday, weighed down by geopolitical uncertainty over the US-Iran talks, and a sharp rise in global crude oil prices.

The currency gained in the first half of the session after the Reserve Bank announced a status quo on key lending rates; however, sustained foreign fund outflows pressured the local unit, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.28 against the greenback and oscillated between the high of 90.18 and the low of 90.83 during the session. It eventually settled at 90.70 (provisional), down 36 paise from its previous close.

On Thursday, the rupee appreciated 13 paise to close at 90.34 against the US dollar.

"The rupee rose in the first half of the day as the Reserve Bank of India left the repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent, in line with expectations. However, the rupee lost initial gains amid geopolitical uncertainty over US-Iran talks," Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan, said.

He said that heightened geopolitical uncertainty may lead to risk aversion in the global market.

However, optimism over the India-US trade deal and fresh FII inflows may support the rupee at lower levels," Choudhary said, and projected the USD-INR spot price to trade in a range of Rs 90.40 to Rs 91.20.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.01 per cent lower at 97.81.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 1.38 per cent higher at $68.48 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex climbed 266.47 points to settle at 83,580.40, while the Nifty advanced 50.90 points to 25,693.70.

Foreign Institutional Investors turned net sellers after two days and offloaded equities worth Rs 2,150.51 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.