Rupee falls 1 paisa to 82.10 against US dollar

MUMBAI: The rupee slipped by 1 paisa to 82.10 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday, tracking the strong dollar and withdrawal of foreign funds from domestic equities.

An upward movement in crude price also weighed on the local unit, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened lower at 82.13 but regained further to touch the peak of 82.07. The currency later turned flat and traded at 82.10 against the greenback, registering a fall of 1 paisa from its previous close.

On Tuesday, the rupee settled at 82.09 against the dollar.

''Upswings went soft after achieving the objective of 82.15, which we have been playing for the last two days. We are encouraged to pursue extended upsides aiming 82.2-82.25, and would rather do that on dips, but slippage past 82.04 may make 81.9 vulnerable again,'' Anand James, Chief Market Strategist at Geojit Financial Services, said in his USD-INR outlook.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was up 0.02 per cent at 102.57.

Crude oil price benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.26 per cent higher at USD 76.10 per barrel.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex advanced 185.17 points or 0.29 per cent to 63,512.87, while broader NSE Nifty inched up 38.75 points or 0.21 per cent to 18,855.45.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net sellers in the capital markets on Tuesday as they sold shares worth Rs 1,942.62 crore, according to exchange data.