Rupee opens 11 paise lower against US dollar

In the equity market, benchmark indices rose for the third straight session Thursday. The S&P BSE Sensex climbed 150.57 points, or 0.42 per cent, to end at 35,929.64.

The rupee on Friday opened 11 paise lower at 71.79 against the US dollar. The domestic unit snapped its three-day losing streak to end 33 paise higher at 71.68 Thursday amid a weak greenback and softening oil prices.

Newly-appointed RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das' comments that he will take all stakeholders along on key issues also bolstered sentiment on Thursday, analysts said.

On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth Rs 6.75 billion on Thursday, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) were net sellers to the tune of Rs 518.6 million, data available with NSE showed.

In the equity market, benchmark indices opened on a tepid note on Friday. The S&P BSE Sensex was trading around 100 points lower at 35,200 levels while Nifty was hovering around 10,750 level, down 34 points. 

On the global front, Asian shares tumbled after China reported a set of weak data, fanning fresh worries of a sharp slowdown in the world’s second-biggest economy and leaving investors fretting over the wider impact of a yet unresolved Sino-US trade dispute. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 1.4 per cent, while Japan’s Nikkei dropped 2.1 per cent, Reuters reported.