Rupee surges 11 paise to 74.91 amid weak dollar, positive domestic equities

Indian rupee jumped 11 paise to 74.91 against the US dollar in on Friday's opening trade, tracking positive domestic equities and weak American currency.

The domestic unit opened at 74.96 per dollar at the interbank forex market and gained further ground to touch 74.91 per dollar, registering a rise of 11 paise over its previous close of 75.02 per dollar on Thursday.

As per traders, bullish equity markets and weak US currency supported the rupee.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.15 per cent to 92.65.

"The post UD Fed meeting minutes USD strength has fizzled out. The dollar has weakened overnight," IFA Global Founder and CEO Abhishek Goenka said adding that "the dollar has weakened after the weekly Jobless claims came in higher than expected at 1.1 million (expected 900K)".

On the domestic equity market front, domestic benchmark indices traded on a bullish note on Friday, reversing from yesterday's losses, amid positive SGX Nifty and other global equities.  Sensex was rising 270 points higher at 38,491 and Nifty gained 77 points to 11,389.

Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth Rs 268.46 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs), were net sellers to the tune of Rs 672.23 crore in the Indian equity market on 20 August, provisional data showed.

Oil price moved midly higher after yeaterday'sdecline on the back of news that OPEC+ must give due importance to the oversupply of oil and as US jobless claims rose unexpectedly. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.33 per cent to USD 45.05 per barrel.

(With PTI Inputs)

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