Cheaper Crude Supports Early Rupee Gains during Ongoing Market Pressure

The rupee remains under pressure from a strong dollar and weak market sentiment, even with an early increase driven by cheaper crude oil.

Mumbai In early trading on Tuesday the rupee maintained its gains rising 11 paise to 89.05 against the US dollar due to reduced crude oil prices on the international market.

However according to forex experts the strong dollar muted stock market sentiment and foreign capital withdrawal continued to put pressure on the Indian currency. The rupee started trading on the interbank foreign currency market at 89.02 increasing 11 paise from its previous closing level to 89.05 versus the US dollar during early dealings.

A day after falling to 98 paise to reach its every time low of 89.66 against the US dollar on Friday the rupee has finished higher by 50 paise against the US dollar. The dollar index which measures the strength of the US dollar against six different currencies increased by 0.06 percent to 100.13.

In futures trading Brent crude the world's oil benchmark fell 0.33 percent to USD 63.16 per barrel. Concerning the domestic stock market the Nifty dropped 10.35 points to 25,949.15 and the Sensex dropped 46.99 points to 84,853.72 in early trading. Exchange data shows that on Monday foreign institutional investors sold stocks valued at Rs 4,171.75 crore on a net basis.