Rupee falls 20 paise to 73.58 against the US dollar in early trade

The Indian rupee slumped 20 paise to 73.58 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday, weighed down by the strength of the greenback and weak domestic equities.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.56 against the US dollar, then fell further to 73.58, registering a fall of 20 paise over its previous close.

On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 73.38 against the American currency.

Most of the Asian currencies were weak this Wednesday morning and will weigh on sentiments, traders said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, advanced 0.13 per cent to 93.41.

"The US dollar was flat to higher against the basket of currencies this Wednesday morning in Asian trade as investors bet that massive fiscal stimulus and aggressive vaccinations will help the US lead a global pandemic recovery," Reliance Securities said in a research note.

On the data front, the government is likely to announce borrowing plan for April-September, additionally, the government is scheduled to release April-February fiscal deficit data. RBI is also likely to release October-December current account data, the note added.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 422.74 points lower at 49,713.84, and the broader NSE Nifty fell 96.85 points to 14,748.25.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 769.47 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.48 per cent to USD 64.45 per barrel.