Indian rupee plunges against UAE dirham at start of the week

The Indian rupee depreciated 25 paise to 82.46 against the US dollar (22.46 versus the UAE dirham) in early trade on Monday, weighed down by firm crude oil prices and a negative trend in the Indian equities.

At the Indian interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened weak at 82.44 against the dollar, then fell to 82.46, registering a decline of 25 paise over its last close.

On Friday, the rupee settled at 82.21 against the dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.48 per cent to 102.99.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, advanced 5.50 per cent to $84.28 per barrel.

“Appreciation in rupee shall remain limited to 81.50-81.80 zone where an importer can target buying and upside shall, for now, remain protected towards 82.70-82.90 region for this week,” said Amit Pabari, managing director, CR Forex Advisors.

“With a holiday-shortened week, highlights would be the RBI policy due on April 6 and US payrolls due on April 7,” Pabari added.

The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) of the Reserve Bank will be meeting for three days on April 3, 5 and 6 to take into account various domestic and global factors before coming out with the first bi-monthly monetary policy for fiscal 2023-24.

The RBI has already increased the repo rate by a total of 250 basis points since May in a bid to contain inflation though it has continued to remain above the central bank’s comfort zone of 6 per cent most of the time.

• Indian rupee gains against UAE dirham as dollar weakens