Rupee opens on flat note, rises 6 paise to 73.36 against US dollar in early trade

Mumbai: The Indian rupee opened on a flat note and inched higher by 6 paise to 73.36 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday amid a muted trend in the domestic equity market.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 73.41 against the dollar, then inched 6 paise higher to 73.36 against the American currency.

On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 73.42 against the American currency.

The forex market was closed on Thursday for Id-Ul-Fitr.

“Most of the Asian currencies are trading weaker against the dollar and could weigh on sentiments,” Reliance Securities said in a research note.

Investors will look to cues from April trade data and April wholesale price inflation data. RBI is also expected to release the weekly forex reserves data after market hours, the note added.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.05 per cent to 90.70.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.39 per cent to USD 66.79 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 10.32 points or 0.02 per cent higher at 48,701.12, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 14.25 points or 0.1 per cent to 14,682.25.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,260.59 crore, as per exchange data.