Indian rupee rises against UAE dirham as dollar weakens

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The Indian rupee strengthened against the US dollar and the UAE dirham in opening trade on Thursday, due to a weak greenback and early gains in Indian equity markets.

Firm crude oil prices and forex outflows from capital markets, however, restricted the rupee’s gains, according to forex dealers.

At the Indian interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened higher at 82.78 to a dollar (22.55 versus Emirati dirham) against the previous close of 82.84.

The rupee appreciated further to hit a high of 82.73 before trading at 82.74, showing gains of 10 paise over the previous close.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, declined 0.28 per cent to 103.87.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 0.45 per cent to $82.57 per barrel.

In the Indian equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 397.14 points to 61,464.38 while NSE Nifty advanced 119.65 points to 18,318.75.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) turned net sellers in the capital markets on Wednesday as they sold shares worth Rs11.19 billion, according to exchange data.