The rupee surrendered its early gains to trade 6 paise down at 76.60 against the United States dollar on Tuesday as investors turned cautious ahead of the U.S. Fed meeting amid growing uncertainty over the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Besides, heavy selling in domestic equities and continued foreign capital outflows put pressure on the domestic unit, forex traders said.
Uncertainty over the conflict in Ukraine and expected rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday are keeping markets edgy, they said.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened strong at 76.40 against the American dollar. However, it pared gains later to enter the negative territory as investors turned cautious amid intensifying Russia-Ukraine conflict. During the day, it moved in the range of 76.32 and 76.68.
The local unit quoted at 76.60 against the dollar at 3.30 p.m., down 6 paise from the previous close.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.31% lower at 98.71.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex ended 709.17 points or 1.26% lower at 55,776.85, while the broader NSE Nifty slumped 208.30 points or 1.23% to 16,663.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures slipped 5.36% to $101.17 per barrel.
Foreign institutional investors continued their selling spree in Indian markets as they offloaded shares worth ₹176.52 crore on a net basis on Friday, according to the exchange data.
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