Indian rupee opened marginally higher at 73.86 per dollar on Thursday against previous close of 73.91, amid buying seen in the domestic equity market.
On May 5, the rupee ended marginally lower at 73.91 per dollar against previous close of 73.86.
The Sensex was up 105.96 points or 0.22% at 48783.51, and the Nifty was up 43.50 points or 0.30% at 14661.40.
“The spot is hovering around 74 zone, the Covid related worries are keeping it afloat. But the influential dovish cover is putting pressure on the spot,” said Rahul Gupta, Head Of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.
“All eyes are on the US NFP data and it is anticipated to show the US economy adding 950K jobs in April, a better data may establish an uptrend in USDINR spot. So up until then we expect USDINR spot to continue trading sideways in between 73.50 and 74.25,” Gupta added.
Oil prices fell on Thursday as gasoline inventories in the United States, the world’s largest oil consumer, rose for a fifth consecutive week although a draw in crude stockpiles helped to underpin prices.
Gold prices inched lower on Thursday due to a stronger dollar, while investors awaited the release of US non-farm payrolls data for April due later this week.
The dollar hovered below a two-week high on Thursday, consolidating ahead of a key US jobs report that may provide clues on when the Federal Reserve will dial back monetary stimulus.
“Yesterday rupee opened at 73.83 and made a low of 73.79 where nationalized banks where standing firmly and did not allow a breach of 73.79 and then took it to as high as 74.04 before again a sell off brought it down to 73.90 levels,” said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Partner & Head of Treasury, Finrex.
“In the last session the premiums fell by 2% as nationalized banks stood firmly to receive the high level of premiums possibly on behalf of RBI. The cash levels also came down.”
“The RBI governor gave some sops for MSME and small borrowers but did not allow any moratorium for bank loans. Equity went up after the announcement while Indian 10 year yield fell to 5.98%. The covid situation remains grim for the country. Today, expect rupee to move in a range of 73.70 to 74.10 with no fresh data or events,” Anil Kumar Bhansali added.
