Rupee snaps 5-day winning run; skids 11 paise to 71.02 per USD

The rupee snapped its five-day winning streak to finish 11 paise lower at 71.02 against the US dollar on Thursday, weighed by unabated foreign fund outflows and a weak trend in domestic equity markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened on a strong note at 70.79 but lost ground during the day to touch a low of 71.08. It finally settled at 71.02, lower by 11 paise against its previous close.

"Rupee opened higher against the US dollar but was weighed down after domestic equities witnessed selling pressure in the latter half," said Gaurang Somaiyaa, Forex and Bullion Analyst, Motilal Oswal Financial Services Private Ltd.

Market participants were also a little cautious ahead of the release of the European Central Bank (ECB) policy statement, he added.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell by 0.01 per cent to 97.48.

Continuing their selling trend, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded shares worth a net Rs 72.87 crore on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data.

"Technically, there is a strong support placed at 70.75 in USD-INR pair. Any level below 70.75 in spot would result in fresh breakdown on the charts," said V K Sharma, Head - PCG & Capital Market Strategy, HDFC Securities.

Brent futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped 0.18 per cent to USD 61.06 per barrel.

The 10-year government bond yield was at 6.49 per cent.

Meanwhile, equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty ended marginally lower after a volatile session on Thursday. The 30-share Sensex settled 38.44 points, or 0.10 per cent, lower at 39,020.39. The broader NSE Nifty slipped 21.50 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 11,582.60.

The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 70.9373 and for rupee/euro at 78.9225. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 91.3275 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 65.44.