Rupee drops 13 paise at 73.18 against USD, gold declines Rs 97

Mumbai, May 19 (PTI): Halting its three-day winning run, the rupee on Wednesday declined by 13 paise to close at 73.18 (provisional) against the US dollar in line with the fall in the domestic equity market.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the domestic currency opened at 73.02 against the American currency, but pared the gains to close at 73.18, registering a decline of 13 paise over its previous close. During the session, the local unit hit an intra-day high of 72.93 and a low of 73.18. On Tuesday, the rupee had closed at 73.05 against the US dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.20 per cent to 89.93.
“The Indian rupee has seen a significant rise in the past few sessions amid a strong rally in global equity markets and a softer dollar index. However, it has pared gains as the risk sentiment has weakened on concerns over the new virus strain in the Asia Pacific region, which could hamper growth,” said Sugandha Sachdeva, Vice President – Commodity and Currency Research, Religare Broking.
Sachdeva noted that a possibility of an earlier-than-expected rate hike by the Fed have led to some risk-off. “Markets will be eyeing Fed minutes for further cues,” Sachdeva said.
Gold in the national capital on Wednesday fell by Rs 97 to Rs 47,853 per 10 gram amid muted global precious metal prices, according to HDFC Securities.
In the previous trade, gold had closed at Rs 47,950 per 10 gram.
Silver also tumbled Rs 1,417 to Rs 71,815 per kilogram from Rs 73,232 per kilogram in the previous trade.
In the international market, both gold and silver were trading marginally lower at USD 1,867 per ounce and USD 27.88 per ounce, respectively.
“Gold prices kept range-bound trading on mixed global cues,” according to HDFC Securities, Senior Analyst (Commodities), Tapan Patel.