Indian rupee likely to remain under pressure against UAE dirham due to high oil prices

The Indian rupee was trading in a narrow range in morning trade on Thursday as elevated crude prices negated the impact of positive Indian equities.

At the Indian interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened lower at 76.37 against the American dollar, then inched higher to 76.35 (20.8 versus the UAE dirham). The rupee touched 76.41 in initial deals.

In the previous session, the rupee had settled at 76.39 against the US dollar.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.22 per cent to $121.33 per barrel.

The rupee is likely to remain under pressure tracking the strength of the greenback and oil, said Sriram Iyer, senior research analyst at Reliance Securities.

"Moreover, US Fed speakers continued to remain hawkish and pushed yields higher that could weigh on sentiments, but markets are slowly digesting the hawkish stance," he added.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.17 per cent to 98.78.

On the Indian equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 22.03 points or 0.04 per cent higher at 57,706.85, while the broader NSE Nifty inched higher by 6.75 points, or 0.04 per cent, to 17,252.40.

(with inputs from PTI)

• Dubai