Rupee surrenders gains to end flat as rising crude prices weigh

The rupee erased all its intra-session gains to end on a flat note at 75.44 against the US dollar on Tuesday as investors took note of rising crude oil prices and sustained foreign capital outflows.

However, a sharp rebound in domestic equities improved investor sentiment, helping in restricting rupee slide.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened strong at 75.31 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 75.26 and a low of 75.49 during the day's trade.

It finally ended at 75.44 a dollar against the previous close of 75.45 up 1 paisa against the greenback.

"Rupee traded in range between 74.35-74.50 as dollar index traded in range. Capital market positive day on back of positive updates on OMICRON variant helped rupee to not fall, but rising crude prices will remain a concern for rupee. Going ahead rupee can be seen in range of 74.30-74.75," Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities, said.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 2.00 per cent to USD 74.54 per barrel.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading higher by 0.05 per cent at 96.37.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 886.51 points or 1.56 per cent higher at 57,633.65, while the broader NSE Nifty surged 264.45 points or 1.56 per cent to 17,176.70.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Monday, as they offloaded shares worth Rs 3,361.28 crore, as per exchange data.