Rupee slumps 24 paise to 76.43 against US dollar in early trade

Mumbai, Apr 18 (PTI): The rupee declined 24 paise to 76.43 against the US dollar in the opening trade on Monday tracking the strength of the dollar and elevated crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened on a muted note at 76.41 against the American dollar, then fell and touched an early low of 76.43 in initial deals, registering a fall of 24 paise over its previous close.

On Wednesday, the rupee dipped 4 paise to close at 76.19 against the US dollar.

The forex market was closed on Thursday for Mahavir Jayanti and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Jayanti and on Friday on account of Good Friday.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures surged 0.97 per cent to USD 112.78 per barrel.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.18 per cent to 100.67.

“The US dollar has started stronger this early Monday morning in Asian trade as more hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials reinforced expectations for faster US policy tightening,” Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities said.

Hawkish Fed officials and dovish European Central Bank (ECB) continued to push the dollar and the bond yields higher and will weigh on sentiments.

“Emerging market and Asian peers were weaker against the US dollar this Monday morning and can weigh on sentiments,” Iyer noted.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 941.21 points or 1.61 per cent lower at 57,397.72, while the broader NSE Nifty declined by 245.00 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 17,230.65.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,061.04 crore, according to stock exchange data.