Rupee opens 25 paise down at 73.82 against US dollar

The rupee on Thursday opened 25 paise down at 73.82 against the US dollar as market participants turned cautious amid weakness in the global equity market.

The equity benchmark BSE Sensex was down nearly 550 points at 37,127 at around 10.20 am (IST).

Before closing one paisa higher at 73.57 against the dollar, the local currency on Wednesday consolidated in a narrow range and volatility remained low despite losses in domestic equities.

The dollar strengthened against its major crosses and that kept the overall momentum low for the currency.

On the domestic front, no major economic data is expected to release but volatility in global equities and broader strength in the dollar against its major crosses is likely to influence the rupee.

Fed Chairman in his testimony said growth still remains far from where it was “and the path ahead continues to be highly uncertain. A full recovery is likely to come only when people are confident it is safe to re-engage in a broad range of activities” with the coronavirus under control.

“For today, we expect USDINR (Spot) to quote in the range of 73.20 and 73.80,” brokerage Motilal Oswal Financial Services said.

The dollar extended gains in yesterday’s session preliminary manufacturing PMI showed marginal gains in September as compared to the previous month number.

In the recent past, economic numbers coming out from the US have been better-than-expectation and that has supported the dollar at lower levels.

Today, market participants will be keeping an eye on ECB’s economic bulletin report and that is likely to impact the currency.