Rupee slips 13 paise to 69.05 vs USD in early trade

The rupee opened on a weak note and declined by 13 paise to 69.05 against the US dollar in opening trade on Tuesday, amid sustained foreign fund outflows and rising crude oil prices.

Forex traders said, strengthening of the US dollar vis-a-vis against other currencies overseas kept pressure on the Indian rupee.

The rupee opened weak at 68.98 at the interbank forex market and then fell further to 69.05, down 13 paise over its last close.

The rupee had settled at 68.92 against the US dollar on Monday.

Traders said, market participants are not very hopeful about large-scale easing by the Reserve Bank, following RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das's statement, wherein he said a change in monetary policy stance effectively equates to an additional 25-bps rate cut.

However, a positive opening in domestic equities supported the local unit and restricted the fall.

Going ahead, global cues like ECB meeting on Thursday, the US Q2 preliminary GDP print on Friday and the FOMC meeting on July 31, are expected to impact rupee movement, traders said.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.13 per cent to USD 63.34 per barrel.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 1,916.91 crore on Monday, as per provisional data.

Domestic bourses opened on a positive note day with benchmark indices Sensex trading 50.03 points up at 38,081.16 and Nifty up 13.55 points at 11,359.75.