Rupee jumps 10 paise to 73.76 per US dollar

Mumbai- Snapping a two-session losing streak, the rupee strengthened by 10 paise to close at 73.76 against the US dollar on Wednesday, supported by macroeconomic data and positive domestic equities.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened strong at 73.81 and shuttled between a high of 73.69 and a low of 73.86 against the greenback.

It finally finished at 73.76, registering a gain of 10 paise over its previous close of 73.86.

According to Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head Retail Research - HDFC Securities, better-than-expected current account data helped the rupee outperform amongst its Asian currency peers.

The country's current account surplus rose to USD 19.8 billion or 3.9 per cent of GDP in the June quarter, RBI data showed.

The current account surplus stood at USD 0.6 billion or 0.1 per cent of GDP in the March quarter while there was a current account deficit of USD 15 billion or 2.1 per cent of GDP in the year-ago period.

"In the first US presidential election debate, clearly Donald Trump underperformed and the outcome has been in line with what market had expected. The Democratic nominee (Joe) Biden is still leading.

"Also, there were no fireworks as such from the debate so we didn't see much reaction on USD-INR spot," said Rahul Gupta, Head of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.

Gupta further said that "now again the market will focus on the US fiscal stimulus package, and it seems that a delay in rolling out could be witnessed. So until this package is passed, we expect USD-INR spot to remain afloat, with crucial support being around 73.40 with 74 acting as a strong resistance."

During the first of the three presidential debates between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden, the two contenders clashed over each other's personality, past record, family and their visions.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, firmed up 0.08 per cent to 93.96.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex ended 94.71 points or 0.25 per cent higher at 38,067.93.

The broader NSE Nifty rose 25.15 points or 0.22 per cent to finish at 11,247.55.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital markets, offloading shares worth Rs 1,456.66 crore on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.49 per cent to USD 40.83 per barrel.

"The USD-INR has been trading sideways for the last few days, taking support at 73.5 levels and resistance at 73.8. Usually when an entity is choppy in nature, it generally awaits cues, both technical and fundamental, to guide it towards a definite trend," said Siddharth Kothari, Chief Investment Strategist, Om Kothari Group.

Kothari further said the US fiscal stimulus, RBI MPC meet outcome and the next round of Indian fiscal stimulus will be the guiding light for the rupee. "These factors will play out in the next 2-3 weeks, and this is when one could expect a significant move," he noted.

Traders said focus will shift back to economic data.

"The Indian rupee appreciated against the US Dollar on Wednesday supported portfolio and investment flows," said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities. "Dollar investors will look out for US ADP employment data and GDP data."

(PTI)