Rupee inches 2 paise higher at 73.66 against US dollar in early trade

The Indian rupee opened on a flat note and inched higher by 2 paise to 73.66 against the US dollar in opening trade on Wednesday.

The domestic unit was trading in a narrow range as the US dollar regained strength ahead of the release of US inflation data. Moreover, high crude oil prices also restricted gains in the rupee, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 73.68 against the dollar, then inched higher to 73.66, up 2 paise over its previous close.

The local unit touched an intra-day low of 73.71 in initial deals.

On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 73.68 against the US dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.01 per cent to 92.63.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Tuesday as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,649.60 crore, as per exchange data.

On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 230.27 points or 0.40 per cent higher at 58,477.36, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 65.95 points or 0.38 per cent to 17,445.95.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures rose 0.63 per cent to USD 74.06 per barrel.

On the domestic macro-economic front, the wholesale price-based inflation rose marginally to 11.39 per cent in August, mainly due to costlier manufactured goods.

Meanwhile, India's exports jumped 45.76 per cent to USD 33.28 billion in August on account of healthy growth in segments like engineering, petroleum products, gems and jewellery and chemicals, even as the trade deficit widened to a four-month high of USD 13.81 billion, according to official data.