Rupee ends marginally lower to close at 73.32 against US dollar

The rupee on Wednesday fell by 1 paisa to end at 73.32 (provisional) against the US dollar ahead of the outcome of the US Federal Reserve meeting.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 73.29 per dollar as against its previous close of 73.31. It hovered in the range of 73.26 to 73.38 during the day.

The domestic currency has lost 52 paise in the seven trading sessions to Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.04 per cent to 90.50.

"The USDINR spot remains in the mid-range ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announcement. If the FOMC pushes back tapering talk, it will dismiss the uptrend in spot. Otherwise any hint over the timing of tapering will continue the dollar rally, pushing the USDINR spot higher towards the crucial resistance of 73.50," said Rahul Gupta, Head Of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.

Gupta further said that "a consistent trading above that will push prices towards 73.60-73.75, however a reversal may be bring the spot back to 72.75-73 zone."

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 271.07 points or 0.51 per cent lower at 52,501.98, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 101.70 points or 0.64 per cent to 15,767.55.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.27 per cent to USD 74.19 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Tuesday as they purchased shares worth Rs 633.69 crore, according to the exchange data.