Rupee falls 24 paise to close at 74.1 against USD on risk averse sentiment

The Indian rupee slumped 24 paise to breach the 74 per US dollar level on Monday as participants turned risk-averse.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened weak at 74.20 against the American currency, pared some initial losses and finally closed at 74.10, showing a fall of 24 paise over its previous close.

On Friday, the rupee had settled at 73.86 against the American currency.

The local unit witnessed an intra-day high of 74.08 and a low of 74.28 against the greenback.

"The rupee started the week on negative note following risk averse sentiment and stronger dollar but in second half recovers from lower level as global equities started strengthening. For the short-term movement focus will remain on price action of dollar index, crude oil and capital flows," said Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities.

Further, Spot USDINR could see long unwinding in the range of 74.30 to 74.50 following IPO-related and FDI-related inflows and risk-on sentiments, Parmar said adding that "the pair is having resistance at 74.30 and support at 73.67, the 50 days simple moving average."

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.19 per cent to 92.04.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 230.01 points or 0.44 per cent higher at 52,574.46, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 63.15 points or 0.4 per cent to 15,746.50.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.16 per cent to USD 73.63 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Friday as they purchased shares worth Rs 2,680.57 crore, as per exchange data.