The rupee depreciated 15 paise to 75.62 against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday as strengthening US dollar and US-China trade tensions weighed on investor sentiments.
Forex traders said sustained foreign fund flows and the revival of business activities supported the local unit, but concerns about US-China trade tiff dragged the local unit down.
The rupee opened weak at 75.62 at the interbank forex market, down 15 paise over its last close.
It had settled at 75.47 against the US dollar on Wednesday.
“Strong local shares, supported by foreign fund inflows could keep depreciation limited,” Reliance Securities said in a research note, adding that investors will look ahead to cues from the European Central Bank’s meeting and US jobless claims data.
Investors are also concerned about rising number of coronavirus cases and its impact on the global as well as domestic economy.
The number of cases around the world linked to the disease has crossed 64.32 lakh and the death toll has topped 3.85 lakh.
Meanwhile, in India, the death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 6,075 and the number of the number of infections rose to 2,16,919, according to the health ministry.
On the equities front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was quoting 15.75 points higher at 34,125.29 and broader Nifty rose 8.60 points to 10,070.15.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they bought equity shares worth Rs 1,851.12 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.41 per cent to USD 39.23 per barrel.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose by 0.19 per cent to 97.45.
