Mumbai:
The Indian rupee on Monday extended gains for a fifth straight day, driven mainly by a weaker dollar and softer crude oil prices on hopes of a diplomatic solution to Russia’s political crisis. -Ukraine appeared.
After a strong open at 74.51 against the greenback, from Friday’s close of 74.66, the rupee extended that gain and rallied to a high of 74.35 as crude traded below 95 USD/barrel.
But outflows from foreign exchange and Indian stock indexes extending their losing streak for a fourth straight session pushed the rupee to give up some of those gains to close at 74.55 per dollar.
According to Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities, the rupee has been cheered by a weakening dollar and crude oil prices falling below $95.
The dollar index, seen as a safe-haven asset, fell 0.26% to 95.79 and Brent crude fell to $93.51 after reports of a likely summit. between US President Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin to discuss the Ukraine border crisis.
While global equities and risk assets were steady on Monday, Indian stock markets fell for a fourth straight session, with BSE Sensex ending at 149.38 points or 0.26% lower at 57,683.59. The broader NSE Nifty fell 69.65 points or 0.40% to 17,206.65.
Foreign institutional investors (FII) remained net sellers of Indian capital markets as they sold shares worth 2,529.96 crore rupees on Friday.
