Cheaper oil, RBI support fail to lift rupee amid dollar demand

Mumbai: The Indian rupee closed at 95.39 on Thursday, modestly weaker from its previous close, despite falling oil prices and intervention from the central bank. The rupee had previously closed at 95.24 per dollar.

The currency came under pressure due to dollar demand from foreign banks, oil companies and foreign investor outflows from equities.

The rupee traded 95.40 and 94.92 on Thursday, with RBI intervention largely in the first half of the day, along with some dollar sales in the offshore non deliverable forwards market before domestic markets opened, traders said. Brent crude oil prices were trading at $70 per barrel. The rupee has depreciated 0.45% so far in this financial year.