Indian rupee ended flat at 74.42 per dollar, amid volatile trade saw in the domestic equity market.
It opened marginally lower at 74.46 per dollar against Friday’s close of 74.40 and traded in the range of 74.40-74.52.
At close, the Sensex was down 123.53 points or 0.23% at 52852.27, and the Nifty was down 31.50 points or 0.20% at 15824.50.
Catch all the market action on our live blog
“Rupee traded positive again as the capital market keeps fund inflow on back of a flurry of IPO’s and stable market condition globally. Dollar index basing also helped rupee take support near 74.55. Going ahead rupee can be seen in a range of 74.25-74.60,” said Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities.
The US dollar hovered near its strongest level since early April against the euro on Monday, as financial markets looked ahead to the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting this week for clues on the timing of stimulus tapering.
Oil prices were little changed on Monday as investors balanced concerns about fuel demand from the spread of COVID-19 variants and floods in China against expectations of tight supplies through the rest of the year.
“The event risk to fx market is FOMC policy. So the USDINR spot will remain a little directionless until then as with the rising covid cases in the US, the Fed may communicate a dovish stance. However, any hawkish commentary or hints at tapering the asset purchase program will surge the USDINR spot above 75 zone,” said Rahul Gupta, Head Of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.
“Thus, for the week, we expect the trend to be sideways in between 74-75.25,” Gupta added.
Gold prices inched higher on Monday, supported by easing U.S. bond yields and concerns over rising Delta variant infections, while investors focused on the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting this week.
“The USDINR has moved towards the lower band of consolidation. Looking at the closure in OTM strike Calls we feel a move towards 75 could be seen in coming days,” said ICICI Direct.
“The dollar-rupee July contract on the NSE was at Rs 74.47 in the last session. The open interest rose almost 1.5% for the July series,” it added.
