Rupee opens 26 paise down on Asian cues, dollar demand

rupee

Rupee opened 26 paise down on Thursday tracking the fall in Asian stocks and demand from domestic companies for dollars, currency experts said.

The local currency opened at 85.5350 against the US dollar, as compared to 85.2787 at previous close against the greenback.

Stocks in Asia fell on Thursday for the first time in five sessions as the rally on Wall Street sparked by US-China trade talks showed signs of exhaustion.

Shanghai slipped 14.19 points, or 0.42 percent, to trade at 3,389.75. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng edged down 61.43 points, or 0.26 percent, to 23,579.22. Japan’s Nikkei took the sharpest hit, dropping 469.66 points, or 1.23%, to 37,658. 57 as of 9:20 am IST.

Currency experts said that in the domestic market there is a buying of dollars from corporates possibly for oil and defence.

Amit Pabari, managing director at CR Forex Advisors said from a technical perspective, the USDINR pair remains in a downtrend, and every uptick is likely to present a selling opportunity. "For now, the pair is expected to trade within a range of 84.80-85.80 levels."