Rupee settles 10 paise higher at 73.76 against US dollar

Mumbai: The rupee settled 10 paise higher at 73.76 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday, supported by positive domestic equities. At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 73.81 against the US dollar, and finally closed at 73.76 against the American currency, registering gain of 10 paise over its previous close.

On Tuesday, the Indian rupee settled at 73.86 against the greenback.

During the session, the local unit witnessed high volatility and touched an intra-day high of 73.69 and a low of 73.86 per US dollar.

"In the first US presidential election debate, clearly Donald Trump underperformed and the outcome has been in line with what market had expected. The Democratic nominee Biden is still leading. Also, there were no fireworks as such from the debate so we didn't see much reaction on USD-INR spot," said Rahul Gupta, Head of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services.

Gupta further said that "now again the market will focus on the US fiscal stimulus package, and it seems that a delay in rolling out could be witnessed. So until this package is passed, we expect USD-INR spot to remain afloat, with crucial support being around 73.40 with 74 acting as a strong resistance."

During the first of the three presidential debates between President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden in Cleveland, Ohio, the two contenders clashed over each other's personality, past record, family and their visions.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.08 per cent to 93.96.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 217.97 points higher at 38,191.19, and the broader NSE Nifty rose 61.35 points to 11,283.75.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,456.66 crore on a net basis on Tuesday, according to exchange data.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.49 per cent to USD 40.83 per barrel.