Rupee fell 1 paisa to 88.75 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday amid a strong American currency and uncertainties looming over the India-US trade deal.
According to forex traders, the Indian currency is under pressure due to unabated outflow of foreign capital and geopolitical developments.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened slightly higher at 88.72 against the US dollar, but soon lost ground to trade at 88.75, down 1 paisa from its previous closing level.
On Monday, the rupee gained 5 paise to settle at 88.74 against the US dollar.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 97.86, higher by 0.06 per cent.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.34 per cent higher at USD 65.69 per barrel in futures trading.
Meanwhile, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said that any trade deal between India and the US must respect New Delhi’s “red lines”, and efforts are underway to reach an understanding.
According to Jaishankar, there were “issues” between India and the US, and many of them were linked to the inability to firm up the proposed trade deal, even as he noted that “there are things you can negotiate and there are things you can’t”.
In the domestic equity markets, Sensex rose 93.83 points or 0.11 per cent to 81,883.95 in the opening trade, while Nifty advanced 46.35 points or 0.18 per cent to 25,124.00.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 313.77 crore on a net basis on Monday, according to exchange data.
On the domestic macroeconomic front, the growth of India’s services sector eased in September from the recent high in August, as new business and activity expanded at slower rates, according to a monthly survey released on Monday.
The seasonally adjusted HSBC India Services PMI Business Activity Index fell to 60.9 in September, from a 15-year high of 62.9 in August, amid competitive conditions and cost-control measures.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
