Rupee slips 10 paise against dollar in early trade

Mumbai: The rupee opened on a cautious note and fell 10 paise to 69.14 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday amid rising crude oil prices and foreign fund outflows.

At the Interbank Foreign Exchange, the rupee opened weak at 69.12 then fell to 69.14 against the US dollar, showing a decline of 10 paise over its previous closing.

The local unit however pared some losses and was trading at 69.05 against the American currency at 1005 hrs. The Indian rupee on Thursday had closed at 69.04 against the US dollar.

Forex traders said rising brent crude prices, cautious opening in domestic equities and foreign fund inflows weighed on the local unit, while weakening of the greenback vis-a-vis other currencies overseas added support to the local unit and restricted the downfall.

Meanwhile, brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.09 per cent to USD 63.45 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 126.65 crore on Thursday, as per provisional data.

Domestic bourses opened on a cautious note Friday with benchmark indices Sensex trading 90.13 points down at 37,737.62 and Nifty down 25.35 points at 11,226.80. Meanwhile, on the global front, European Central Bank (ECB) in its policy decision on Thursday left key interest rates unchanged.

Other major global cues that are going to dictate the trend in the currency market include the US second quarter preliminary GDP print on Friday and the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on July 31, traders said.