Rupee falls 7 paise to 79.92 against dollar on account of firm crude prices

The rupee depreciated 7 paise to 79.92 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday tracking the strength of the dollar in the overseas market and firm crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 79.90 against the US dollar, then fell to 79.92 against the greenback, registering a decline of 7 paise over the last close.

On Thursday, the rupee recovered from its all-time low of 80.06 to close 20 paise higher at 79.85 against the US dollar following overall weakness in crude oil prices and fresh foreign fund inflows.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.01 per cent at 106.92.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures advanced 1 per cent to USD 104.90 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 250.95 points or 0.45 per cent higher at 55,932.90, while the broader NSE Nifty was up 71.10 points or 0.43 per cent to 16,676.35.

Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital market on Thursday as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,799.32 crore, as per exchange data.

The rupee opened lower as the European Central Bank (ECB) hiked rates by 50 basis points on Thursday and was ready for more to check inflation, said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury, Finrex Treasury Advisors.

Bhansali further said that the market is now waiting for the US FED on July 27 as the RBI postpones its meeting in August by one day.

The Reserve Bank of India has postponed the meeting of its interest rate setting Monetary Policy Committee by a day to August 3 due to administrative exigencies.

The RBI said the decision of the MPC will be known on August 5 as against the earlier schedule of August 4.