The rupee gave up early gains to trade up 6 paises to 76.60 against the US dollar on Tuesday as investors turned cautious ahead of the Federal Reserve Board meeting amid rising uncertainty over the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Also, violent selling of domestic stocks and continued foreign capital outflows are putting pressure on the domestic entity, forex traders said.
Uncertainty over the conflict in Ukraine and an expected rate hike by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday are keeping markets jittery, they said.
In the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened strong at 76.40 against the US dollar. However, it later pared gains to move into negative territory as investors became cautious amid the deepening conflict between Russia and Ukraine. During the day it has ranged from 76.32 to 76.68.
The local unit was trading at 76.60 against the dollar as of 3:30 p.m., down 6 paise from the previous close.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the dollar’s strength against a basket of six currencies, traded 0.31% lower to 98.71.
In the domestic stock market, the 30-piece Sensex ended 709.17 points, or 1.26%, lower at 55,776.85, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 208.30 points, or 1.23%, to 16,663.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 5.36% to $101.17 a barrel.
Overseas institutional investors continued their selling spree in Indian markets, selling ₹176.52 crore of shares on a net basis, according to stock market data on Friday.
