Investor morale was further dampened by a flat local equity market and high crude oil prices, according to FX dealers.
Mumbai: The rupee lost 12 paise to 82.90 versus the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday as a result of a strong US dollar and concerns that the Federal Reserve may maintain higher interest rates for longer as a result of the US inflation figures for January.
Investor morale was further dampened by a flat local equity market and high crude oil prices, according to FX dealers.
The local unit began weakly at 82.90 versus the dollar on the interbank foreign exchange, down 12 paise from its previous finish.
The rupee’s value versus the dollar was fixed at 82.78 in the previous session on Tuesday.
The dollar index, which measures the strength of the dollar against a basket of six different currencies, increased 0.14 percent to 103.38.
The international oil benchmark, Brent crude futures, saw a 0.70 percent fall to USD 84.98 per barrel.
The dollar index recovered from session lows in the international markets as data for January revealed the smallest annual increase in US consumer prices since October 2021, which did not change market expectations that interest rates will remain high for some time, according to Sriram Iyer, Senior Researcher at the Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
The US CPI increased 6.4% in the 12 months ending in January, the weakest increase since October 2021, according to data.
The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 265.2 points, or 0.43 percent, to 60,767.06 on the domestic equities market. The NSE Nifty index as a whole dropped by 69.85 points, or 0.39 percent, to 17,860.00.
According to exchange statistics, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net purchasers on Tuesday in the capital markets, buying shares worth Rs 1,305.30 crore.
