Rupee surges 18 paise to 72.42 against US dollar in early trade

This picture has been used for representational purpose

The Indian rupee strengthened by 18 paise to 72.42 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday tracking positive domestic equities. At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 72.46 against the dollar, then inched higher to 72.42, registering a gain of 18 paise over its previous close. On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 72.60 against the US dollar.

Most Asian currencies have started flat to marginally stronger against the US dollar this Friday, Reliance Securities said in a research note. Traders will track the Reserve Bank of India's reserves data that will be released after market hours. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.09 per cent to 90.04.

Also read: Sensex jumps over 100 pts in early trade; Nifty above 15,200

"The US dollar index has started on a marginally stronger note this morning in Asian trade as investors await inflation data due tonight," the Reliance Securities' note said. Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.46 per cent to USD 69.78 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 294.61 points or 0.58 per cent higher at 51,409.83, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 99.25 points or 0.65 per cent to 15,437.10. Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 660.90 crore, as per exchange data.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever