New Delhi: The rupee remained volatile and depreciated 7 paise to 95.22 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday, weighed down by elevated crude oil prices, geopolitical uncertainty, and a stronger greenback ahead of the US Federal Reserve's policy decision.
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Forex traders said the Indian currency showed some recovery on likely intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), but failed to withstand pressure from foreign fund outflows amid subdued domestic equity market sentiment.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 95.17 and pared some losses to touch 95.11 but soon lost ground to trade at 95.22 against the greenback, lower by 7 paise from its previous close.
On Monday, the rupee depreciated for the third consecutive day and settled 22 paise lower at 95.15 against the US dollar.
In the last three sessions, the rupee has lost 77 paise against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading higher by 0.06 percent at 101.86.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.91 percent but stayed near its six-month high level at USD 114.76 per barrel in futures trade.
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Analysts attributed the increased level of crude oil prices to Houthi-led attacks on Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure that escalated the fear of global supply chain disruptions.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex dropped 126.16 points or 0.17 percent to 73,480.59 in early trade; Nifty fell 47.30 points or 0.21 percent to 22,706.30.
Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth Rs 1,462.49 crore on a net basis on Monday, according to exchange data.
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