The Indian rupee opened marginally higher on Tuesday amid a fall in crude oil prices in the international market. The rupee opened at 71.38 a US dollar against the previous close of 71.44 a dollar. On year-to-date (YTD) basis, the Indian rupee has weakened 0.01 per cent. “Fresh cues for rupee will depend on the Union budget, scheduled on February 01, and dollar demand from central banks. We are likely to see high volatility this week as two major central banks policy decisions i.e. BoE and US FOMC scheduled. Market is pricing rate cut by the Bank of England while US FOMC may hold the rate unchanged,” V K Sharma, Head PCG & Capital Markets Strategy said. At 10.20 AM, the rupee was trading at 71.34 against US dollar, up 0.14 per cent.
In the domestic equity market, Sensex and Nifty pared early gains on Tuesday. S&P BSE Sensex was trading 33 points higher at 41,188.64 while broader Nifty 50 index was ruling flat at 12, 124. On a net basis, foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 438.85 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) were net buyers to the tune of Rs 10.51 crore on Monday, according to the provisional exchange data.
Oil futures fell for the sixth session on Tuesday as the spread of a new virus in China and several countries raised concerns about a hit to economic growth and oil demand. Brent crude was down 37 cents, or 0.6 per cent, to $58.95, after touching a three-month low on Monday at $58.50, as the virus outbreak triggered a global sell-off in riskier assets. US West Texas Intermediate was down 29 cents, or 0.6 per cent, at $52.85, as per the Reuters news report.