MUMBAI, Aug 12: The rupee slipped 5 paise to close at 74.83 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday tracking muted domestic equities.
The local unit opened at 74.78 at the interbank forex market, then lost ground and finally settled at 74.83 against the US dollar, down 5 paise over its last close of 74.78.
During the session, the domestic unit witnessed an intra-day high of 74.77 and a low of 74.93 against the greenback.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.03 per cent to 93.59.
Forex traders said rupee traded in a narrow range as muted domestic equities and weak Index of Industrial Production (IIP) data weighed on investor sentiment, while sustained foreign fund inflows supported the rupee and restricted the fall.
India’s industrial production declined 16.6 per cent in June on account of disruption in normal business activity following the outbreak of coronavirus pandemic.
The decline in factory output was widespread across the sectors, including manufacturing, mining, power generation, capital goods and consumer durables, as per the data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 36.63 points lower at 38,370.38 and the broader NSE Nifty fell 15.70 points to 11,306.80.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,013.66 crore on Tuesday, according to provisional exchange data.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.99 per cent to USD 44.94 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the number of cases around the world linked to COVID-19 has crossed 2.02 crore and in India, the number of infections topped the 23-lakh mark. (PTI)
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