Mumbai, Mar 21 (PTI) The rupee depreciated 6 paise to 82.62 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday amid a stronger dollar and mixed global cues.
Traders said declining crude oil prices, firm Asian currencies and positive sentiment in the domestic equity market however capped the fall in rupee.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened stronger at 82.54 against the dollar. It traded between 82.53 and 82.62, down 6 paise against its previous close.
On Monday, the rupee settled at 82.56 against the US dollar.
“While a swing higher unfolded as we suspected, the 82.66 region, which we had lined up to be the key pivot, was enough to derail the upside momentum. We are back into a sideways band with a mild downside bias with 82.24 as support, but expect upsides to gain momentum if 82.81 is reclaimed,” said Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was 0.07 per cent higher at 103.36.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 1.08 per cent to USD 72.99 per barrel.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was trading 199.45 points or 0.35 per cent higher at 57,828.40 points while the broader NSE Nifty was up 51.05 points or 0.30 per cent at 17,039.85 points.
Investors were trading cautiously awaiting the interest rate decision by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday even as they were concerned over the health of the global banking system.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the domestic capital market on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,545.87 crore, according to exchange data.
