Rupee opens 6 paise lower at 73.70 per dollar ahead of US FOMC meet

The Indian rupee opened 6 paise lower at 73.70 per dollar on September 16 as the greenback steadied against its global peers after slipping slightly ahead of the US Fed policy outcome.

An uptick in crude oil prices also weighed on Indian currency.

Oil prices rose on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session, as a hurricane disrupted US offshore oil and gas production and an industry report showed a big drop in US crude stockpiles, reported Reuters.

The Indian currency had settled 16 paise lower at 73.64 against the US dollar on September 15 even as the domestic equity market logged healthy gains.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 1,170.89 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 895.63 crore in the Indian equity market on September 15, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Today, the equity market is trading marginally higher in light of mixed global cues as investors await the US Fed policy outcome which will be announced later today.

Sensex was 79 points up at 39,123 while Nifty was 24 points up at 11,545 at 10:05 hours. Shares of Mahindra & Mahindra, HDFC Bank, Infosys, Maruti and Bajaj Auto were among the top gainers.

The dollar-rupee September contract on the NSE was at 73.71 in the last session. The open interest in the September series increased 3.26 percent while it also increased by 10.15 percent in the next series, said brokerage firm ICICI Direct.

The brokerage recommended a 'sell' on USD-INR in the range of 73.74-73.76 today, with targets of 73.55, 73.45 and a stop loss of 73.95.

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