Rupee surges 39 paise to 85.71 against U.S. dollar in early trade

The rupee sustained its gaining momentum and jumped 39 paise to 85.71 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, buoyed by a robust rally in domestic equity markets and crude oil prices hovering at record low levels.

According to forex traders, a weak American currency index also strengthened the local unit despite the outflow of foreign capital.

They attributed the rupee's rise to the U.S. administration's latest move to suspend the additional 26% tariffs on India till July 9.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened strong at 85.85 and gained further to trade at 85.71 against the greenback in initial deals, 39 paise higher from the previous closing level.

The rupee had closed with a steep gain of 58 paise at 86.10 against the greenback on Friday.

Forex markets were closed on Monday on account of Ambedkar Jayanti.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading marginally higher by 0.06% but below the crucial 100 mark at 99.46.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.06% to $64.92 per barrel in futures trade.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose sharply by 1,516.53 points, or 2.02%, to 76,673.79, while the Nifty surged 454.60 points, or 1.99%, to 23,283.15. Both the indices had closed Friday's session nearly 2% higher.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹2,519.03 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.