Rupee settles 14 paise down at 71.02 against dollar

The rupee depreciated by 14 paise to close at 71.02 against the US dollar on Monday as profit booking in domestic equities and unabated foreign fund outflows kept investors edgy.

Forex traders said market sentiment remained fragile ahead of the US-China trade meeting. Besides, rising crude oil prices also weighed on the domestic unit.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened on a weak note at 71.00 and fell further to a low of 71.09. It finally settled at 71.02, lower by 14 paise against its previous close.

On Friday, the local unit had settled at Rs 70.88 against the greenback.

"Indian rupee weakened along with other emerging Asian currencies against the US dollar as fresh doubts over US-China trade talks resurfaced after a report said that Beijing may be reluctant on agreeing to a broad deal," said V K Sharma, Head - PCG & Capital Market Strategy, HDFC securities.

Sharma further said "spot USDINR has been trading in the tight range with thin volume ahead of the holiday of "Dusshera".

The forex market will remain closed on Tuesday on account of Dussehra.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose by 0.07 per cent to 98.87.

On the domestic market front, the 30-share BSE Sensex settled at 37,531.98 points, down by 141.33 points or 0.38 per cent as 24 of its components posted losses.

Broader NSE Nifty dropped by 48.35 points or 0.43 per cent to close at 11,126.40 as leading IT, pharma, financials, and oil stocks retreated due to profit booking.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in equities, offloaded shares worth Rs 494.21 crore on a net basis, according to provisional exchange data. On Friday, FPIs had sold equities worth Rs 682.93 crore on net basis.

Brent futures, the global oil benchmark, soared 1.01 per cent to USD 58.96 per barrel.

The 10-year government bond yield was at 6.68 per cent.

The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 70.8703 and for rupee/euro at 77.7844. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 87.5229 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 66.36.