Mumbai: The rupee declined 21 paise to 75.02 against the US dollar in opening trade Thursday after the Reserve Bank of India kept benchmark lending rate unchanged and said it will continue with the accommodative stance.
RBI kept benchmark lending rate unchanged for the 10th time in a row at 4 per cent. The Monetary Policy Committee decided to keep reverse repo rate unchanged at 3.35 per cent.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened flat at 74.90 against the US dollar, then slipped further to 75.05, registering a decline of 21 paise from the last close.
On Wednesday, the rupee had settled at 74.84 against the US dollar.
RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the central bank will continue with the accommodative stance to revive and sustain growth on a durable basis.
Forex traders said the local unit was also impacted by the strength of the American currency, elevated crude oil prices and sustained foreign fund outflows.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose by 0.05 per cent to 95.53.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark brent crude futures jumped by 0.04 per cent to USD 91.59 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 156.33 points or 0.27 per cent higher at 58,622.30 points while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 57.80 points or 0.33 per cent to 17,521.60 points.
Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market Wednesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 892.64 crore, as per stock exchange data.
