Rupee settles 1 paisa higher to close at 94.15 against US dollar

Mumbai: The rupee settled on a flat note, registering gains of just one paisa to close at 94.15 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday, as rising global uncertainty, escalating tensions in West Asia and soaring crude oil prices weighed on investor sentiments.

Forex traders said the INR/USD pair pared its initial losses, but the overall bias remains negative as FII sell-off and elevated crude oil prices restricted the gains for the local unit.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 94.25 against the US dollar, and touched an intraday high of 94.11 and a low of 94.28 against the greenback during the day.

At the end of Monday's trading session, the rupee was quoted at 94.15 (provisional), registering a gain of just 1 paisa over its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee extended its losing streak for the fifth day in a row, depreciating 15 paise to close at 94.16 against the US dollar.

"The rupee snapped a five-session losing streak, rebounding in tandem with a rally across regional currencies. However, the mood remains apprehensive as the market braces for a potential RBI intervention around 94.30 and higher crude oil prices," said Dilip Parmar – Senior Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

On the charts, the USDINR pair has reclaimed its upward momentum, carving out a classic bullish structure of higher highs and lows on the daily time frame, he said, adding that for the coming sessions, 93.80 serves as a support, with 94.40 acting as the primary hurdle.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.21 per cent at 98.32.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading higher by 2.36 per cent at $107.82 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex jumped 639.42 points to settle at 77,303.63, while the Nifty surged 194.75 points to 24,092.70.

Foreign Institutional Investors offloaded equities worth Rs 8,827.87 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, India's forex reserves jumped by $2.362 billion to $703.308 billion during the week ended April 17, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Friday.

In the previous reporting week, the forex kitty had increased by $3.825 billion to $700.946 billion.