The rupee rose 5 paise to 95.82 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, after closing at 95.87 on Friday, as traders watched oil prices and foreign portfolio flows for cues. Expectations that the Reserve Bank of India would intervene to limit sharp currency moves also supported the rupee.Forex traders said initial gains in domestic equities and improved foreign fund sentiment boosted investor sentiment, but sustained importer demand for greenbacks from oil companies and broader strength in the US dollar Index weighed on the local unit.At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 95.86 against the US dollar, then gained some ground to touch 95.72 against the American currency, registering a gain of 24 paise from its previous close.On Friday, the rupee closed lower by 7 paise at 95.96 against the US dollar.Traders are also watching the rupee’s approach to the 96-per-dollar level, around which the RBI has been seen intervening in recent sessions.“The rupee closed at 95.89 on Friday after being defended near 96 last week. We expect a broad range of 95.60–96.50, with the 96.40–96.50 zone acting as stiff resistance,” said Anindya Banerjee, Head of Commodity and Currency Research, Kotak Securities told news agency PTI.Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 100.31, higher by 0.09 per cent. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 2.10 per cent at USD 101.69 per barrel in futures trade.Higher oil prices remain a concern for India because they can widen the country’s import bill and put pressure on the current account and the rupee.On the domestic equities market front, Sensex jumped 448.32 points to 74,743.28 in early trade; Nifty up 50.3 points to 23,396.70.Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth Rs 599.54 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to exchange data.Meanwhile, India’s forex reserves dropped by USD 4.924 billion to USD 780.782 billion during the week ended September 11 due to a fall in foreign currency and gold reserves, according to the RBI data released on Friday.
