Rupee falls 8 paise to close at 86.96 against U.S. dollar

Rupee depreciated 8 paise to close at 86.96 (provisional) against U.S. dollar weighed down by sustained foreign fund outflows and an uptick in the U.S. Dollar index.

Forex traders said there is a negative bias for the USD/INR pair as foreign investors continue to sell domestic equities and the RBI support is tapering off slowly.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 86.94 and touched the high of 86.91 against the greenback during intraday. It also touched the low of 86.98 before ending the session at 86.96 (provisional) against the dollar, logging a loss of 8 paise from its previous close.

On Monday, the rupee depreciated 17 paise to close at 86.88 against the U.S. dollar.

Traders said disappointing trade deficit data from the domestic markets too pressurised the rupee.

India's exports declined for the third month in a row in January, falling by 2.38% year-on-year to $36.43 billion, while the trade deficit widened to $22.99 billion in the month.

Imports rose by 10.28% year-on-year to USD 59.42 billion in January due to an increase in gold shipments, according to the Commerce Ministry data.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was at 106.95, higher by 0.35%.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was quoted 0.77% higher at $75.80 per barrel in futures trade.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex declined 29.47 points, or 0.04%, to settle at 75,967.39, while the Nifty fell 14.20 points, or 0.06%, to 22,945.30 points.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹3,937.83 crore in the capital markets on net basis on Monday, according to exchange data.

"We expect the rupee to trade with negative bias amid weak domestic equities and a recovery in the US dollar. FII outflows may also weigh on the rupee. However, any further intervention by the RBI may support the rupee at lower levels.

"Traders may take cues from speeches by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) members," Choudhary said, adding that "the USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of 86.75 to 87.20." On the global front, Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday asked business leaders to unleash their talents in a rare meeting with billionaires including Jack Ma, founder of e-commerce giant Alibaba, in a bid to shore up sagging business confidence and reverse economic slowdown.

The meeting came amid concerns over Donald Trump's decision to hike tariffs against Chinese exports to the U.S. amid the slowdown of the Chinese economy, which hovered at around 5% GDP growth in the last few years.