Indian rupee slips against UAE dirham due to fund outflows

The Indian rupee fell five paise to 75.49 against the US dollar (20.56 against the Emirati dirham) at the opening of the market on Wednesday as persistent foreign fund outflows kept the pressure on the local unit.

But a rally in the Indian equities and sliding crude prices in the international market restricted the rupee’s fall, said forex traders.

At the Indian interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened strong at 75.38 but could not hold on to the gains and dropped five paise to quote 75.49 against the dollar in early deals.

Fitch Ratings on Wednesday cut India’s economic growth forecast to 8.4 per cent for the current fiscal but raised the growth projection for the next financial year to 10.3 per cent.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies fell 0.22 per cent to 96.16.

On the Indian equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 658.72 points or 1.14 per cent higher at 58,292.37 while the broader NSE Nifty surged 198.15 points or 1.15 per cent to 17,374.85.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.15 per cent to $75.33 per barrel. Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs2,584.97 crore on Tuesday.

(with inputs from PTI)

• India