Rupee widens loss against dollar, touches 19.96 against dirham

The rupee furthered its loss by 7 paise to trade at 73.38 against the US dollar in opening deals on Friday, reeling under pressure from a rebound in American currency against key rivals and rising crude oil prices.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the Indian unit traded in a small range of 73.35-73.39 in early deals. The rupee was trading at 19.96 at 10:30am (UAE time) against the UAE dirham, according to XE.com.

The rupee had closed 20 paise lower at 73.31 a dollar on Thursday.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.03 per cent to 89.85.

Global crude oil benchmark Brent was trading higher by 0.17 per cent at USD 54.61 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex surged 362.16 points or 0.75 per cent to 48,455.48 in morning trade, and the broader NSE Nifty climbed 104.50 points or 0.74 per cent to 14,241.85.

Foreign investors bought shares worth Rs 382.30 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to exchange data.