Indian rupee slips against UAE dirham on foreign funds outflows

The Indian rupee depreciated nine paise to 79.03 against the US dollar (21.53 against the UAE dirham) in opening trade on Monday, as persistent foreign funds outflows weighed on investor sentiments.

Forex traders said the weakness of crude oil prices is supporting the rupee.

However, inflation and growth worries in India and globally could cap the appreciation bias, they added.

At the Indian interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 78.97 against the dollar, then fell to quote 79.03, registering a decline of 9 paise over the last close.

In the previous session on Friday, the rupee had closed at 78.94 against the dollar.

"Today is a US holiday therefore cash demand of US dollar will be absent. Maybe we could see some lower levels towards 78.80 for the pair. Importers should take advantage of the dips and buy their next 10-15 days of exposures and exporters could sell the upticks towards 79.20 for near-term exposures," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, head of treasury, Finrex Treasury Advisors.

On the Indian equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 20.63 points or 0.04 per cent lower at 52,887.30, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 22.65 points or 0.14 per cent to 15,729.40.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was at 105.14.

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