Indian rupee weakens 11 paise to 73.68 against US dollar in early trade

The rupee depreciated 11 paise to 73.68 against the US dollar in opening trade tracking muted domestic equities and a rebound in the American currency

The rupee depreciated 11 paise to 73.68 against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday tracking muted domestic equities and a rebound in the American currency.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.68 against the US dollar, registering a fall of 11 paise over its previous close.

On Wednesday, the rupee strengthened by another 3 paise to mark its seven-week high of 73.57 against the US dollar.

A rebound of the US dollar, Brexit deal impasse and the Reserve Bank of India's presence in the market weighed on investor sentiments, Reliance Securities said in a research note.

On the other hand, dollar inflows into local equities and strong Chinese yuan could keep depreciation bias limited, the note added.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.10 per cent to 90.99.

Traders said the US dollar rebounded against the basket of currencies amid lack of progress over the additional US fiscal stimulus to ease the economic blow from the COVID-19 pandemic.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 315.65 points lower at 45,787.85 and the broader NSE Nifty fell 109.10 points to 13,420.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 3,564.23 crore on a net basis on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.47 per cent to USD 49.09 per barrel.