Rupee ends flat at 79.86 against US dollar

Mumbai: The Indian rupee ended flat, at 79.86, against the US dollar on Tuesday as the central bank’s intervention and foreign investors flows kept the dollar demand well filled.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee ended at 79.86, as against its 79.87 close on the previous trading session against the US dollar.

“USDINR spot closed flat, as RBI intervention and FPI flows kept the dollar demand well filled. Rupee has been an outperformer against a basket of emerging market and developed market currencies, since mid-August. Fall in oil prices and FPI flows have helped. However, upside risk remains intact as US Dollar Index and USDCNY remains in uptrend,” said Anindya Banerjee, VP, Currency Derivatives & Interest Rate Derivatives at Kotak Securities Ltd.

Dollar index, which gauges the the strength of greenback against the basket of six major currencies, was at 108.930.

Brent crude oil prices were at $97.80 a barrel by the closing of Indian market hours.

Meanwhile, Sensex rose 257.43 points, or 0.44 per cent, at 59,031.30 and Nifty ended 86.80 points, or 0.50 per cent, at 17,577.50. About 2,111 shares have advanced, 1,282 shares have declined and 156 shares remained unchanged.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Titan, Tata Steel, were among the major gainers on the BSE. BSE Auto, BSE Metal, BSE Cons Durables, and BSE Oil & Gas rose the most.

BSE SmallCap was up 0.78 per cent, BSE LargeCap was up 0.50 per cent, and BSE MidCap was up 1.03 per cent.

“We expect a range of 79.60 and 80.30 on spot over the near term,” Banerjee added.