Rupee falls 24 paise to 75.85 against US dollar in early trade

The rupee depreciated 24 paise to 75.85 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday tracking weak domestic equities and strengthening American currency overseas.

Traders said the weakness in the local unit was largely due to correction in domestic equities and strengthening of the US dollar. Moreover, rising coronavirus cases in the country and US-China trade tensions weighed on the local unit.

The rupee opened weak at 75.72 at the interbank forex market and then fell further to 75.85, down 24 paise over its last close.

It had settled at 75.61 against the US dollar on Thursday.

The rupee opened weak tracking negative cues from Asian currencies which have started weaker amid mounting tensions between the US and China, Reliance Securities said in a research note.

It further said that China could impose new national security legislation on Hong Kong after last year's pro-democracy unrest, to which US President Donald Trump said that Washington would react "very strongly" against it.

Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India on Friday advanced its monetary policy committee meeting and cut the policy repo rate by 40 basis points.

In India, the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 3,583 and the number of cases climbed to over 1.18 lakh, according to the health ministry.

Meanwhile, the number of cases around the world linked to the disease has crossed over 51.02 lakh and the death toll has topped 3.32 lakh.

Domestic bourses were trading with losses with benchmark indices Sensex down 86.38 points at 30,846.52 and Nifty slipping 37.55 points at 9,068.70.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market, as they purchased equity shares worth Rs 258.73 crore on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 3.38 per cent to USD 34.84 per barrel.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose by 0.17 per cent to 99.14.