The rupee opened slightly lower against the greenback on Thursday, a day after the domestic currency closed at a fresh two-month high on sustained foreign fund flows.
At 09:10 AM, the
rupee was trading at 69.62 a dollar, down 8 paise from its Wednesday’s close of 69.54. The home currency opened at 69.68 and touched a high and a low of 69.62 and 69.76 a dollar, respectively.
The Indian currency has been riding high on massive liquidity push in the form of strong foreign fund inflows in March. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have poured in more than Rs 10,000 crore in Indian stocks so far this month, reported PTI.
Foreign investors further invested a net amount of Rs 2,722.28 crore on Wednesday, as per provisional data.
In a move to infuse liquidity into the market, the
Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Wednesday said it will inject long-term liquidity worth $5 billion into the system through foreign exchange swap arrangement with banks for three years.
Globally, the dollar edged back from a nine-day low early, as the pound took a back seat after British lawmakers voted against a potentially disorderly “no-deal” departure from the European Union late.
British lawmakers are now widely expected to vote on Thursday to delay Britain’s departure from the EU, currently scheduled for March 29.
The dollar index, a gauge of the currency’s strength against six major counterparts, stood little changed at 96.505. It shed 0.4 percent overnight, at one point brushing a nine-day trough of 96.385.
In commodity markets, oil prices edged higher owing to global production cuts and supply disruptions in Venezuela.
International Brent crude oil futures were at $67.61 a barrel at 0054 GMT, up 6 cents, or 0.1 percent, from their last close. Brent touched $67.76 a barrel on Wednesday, its highest since Nov. 16.
