Rupee settles flat at 90.91 against US dollar

Mumbai, Feb 26 (PTI) The rupee settled on a flat note at 90.91 against the US dollar on Thursday, amid volatile global crude oil prices and a firm greenback against major rivals.

A selling rush in equities by foreign institutional investors and trade-related concerns kept the Indian currency under pressure even as market participants moved cautiously waiting domestic GDP data to be released on Friday, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.86 against the greenback and traded in a narrow range of 90.81-90.94 during the session before ending at its previous day's closing level of 90.91 against dollar.

The rupee stayed range-bound and settled with a gain of 4 paise at 90.91 against the US dollar on Wednesday.

"We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias amid geopolitical risks between the US and Iran and trade tariff uncertainty. Negotiations between the US and Iran are likely to take place in Geneva, and markets will watch out for the outcome of the meeting. Traders may also take cues from weekly unemployment claims data from the US," Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan, said.

USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 90.60 to Rs 91.20, he added.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.03 per cent lower at 97.73.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.21 per cent to USD 71.00 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex dipped 27.46 points to settle at 82,248.61, while the Nifty was up 14.05 points to 25,496.55.

On Thursday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,465.99 crore, according to exchange data. PTI TRB HVA