Rupee falls 31 paise to close at 90.65 against US dollar

Mumbai (PTI): The rupee declined 31 paise to settle at 90.65 against the US dollar on Friday, weighed down by geopolitical uncertainties over the US-Iran talks, and a sharp rise in global crude oil prices.

The currency gained in the first half of the session after the Reserve Bank announced a status quo on key lending rates; however, sustained foreign fund outflows pressured the local unit, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.28 against the greenback and oscillated between the high of 90.18 and the low of 90.83 during the session. It eventually settled at 90.65, down 31 paise from its previous close.

On Thursday, the rupee appreciated 13 paise to close at 90.34 against the US dollar.

"The rupee rose in the first half of the day as the Reserve Bank of India left the repo rate unchanged at 5.25 per cent, in line with expectations. However, the rupee lost initial gains amid geopolitical uncertainty over US-Iran talks," Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan, said.

He said that heightened geopolitical uncertainty may lead to risk aversion in the global market.

However, optimism over the India-US trade deal and fresh FII inflows may support the rupee at lower levels," Choudhary said, and projected the USD-INR spot price to trade in a range of Rs 90.40 to Rs 91.20.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.01 per cent lower at 97.81.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 1.38 per cent higher at USD 68.48 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, Sensex climbed 266.47 points to settle at 83,580.40, while the Nifty advanced 50.90 points to 25,693.70.

Foreign Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 1,950.77 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.

The Reserve Bank data released on Friday showed India's forex reserves jumped by USD 14.361 billion to a new all-time high of USD 723.774 billion during the week ended January 30.

In the previous reporting week, the forex kitty had increased by USD 8.053 billion to USD 709.413 billion, surging past the earlier all-time high of USD 704.89 billion recorded in September 2024.