Rupee opens on flat note, rises 7 paise to 73.15 against US dollar in early trade

Mumbai, May 18 (PTI) The Indian rupee opened on a flat note and inched higher by 7 paise to 73.15 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday tracking the weakness in the American currency and positive domestic equities.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 73.18 against the dollar, then inched 7 paise higher to 73.15 against the American currency.

On Monday, the rupee had settled at 73.22 against the US dollar.

The rupee started on a flat to stronger note against the dollar, tracking the weakness of the greenback, Reliance Securities said in a research note.

Most of the Asian currencies are trading stronger against the dollar and could lent support, the note added.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.06 per cent to 90.11.

"The US dollar index struggled against the basket of currencies this Tuesday morning in Asian trade due to renewed expectations that US interest rates will remain low for an extended period," the Reliance Securities' note said.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.35 per cent to USD 69.70 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 477.6 points or 0.96 per cent higher at 50,058.33, while the broader NSE Nifty jumped 148.35 points or 0.99 per cent to 15,071.50.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Monday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 2,255.84 crore, as per exchange data. PTI DRR DRR ANS ANS