Indian rupee falls 34 paise against USD as crude oil prices surge

Mumbai: The Indian Rupee recorded a 34 paise fall on Monday and closed 76.18 against the US dollar, thanks to rising international crude oil prices added to negative trends in domestic equities weighed ion investor sentiment, PTI reported.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened lower at 76.08 against the American currency, later lost further ground to settle at 76.18, down 34 paise from the previous close.

In the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee had opened at 76.08. It had fallen 37 paise on Thursday to reach 75.84 against the US dollar.

HDFC Securities' Research Analyst Dilip Parmer said that the dollar is in rally mode as markets expect an even more hawkish Federal Reserve moving forward.

After European countries also decided on an embargo on Russian oil, prices jumped 3.47 per cent to 111.68 per barrel. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has declared that it won't bear any responsibility for the oil supplies shortage in global markets. The Houthi rebels' attack on the Kingdom had affected its oil production, which also influenced the oil price hike.

Parmar said that though there were several economic events this week, the focus will be Ukraine-Russia peace talks, which will drive risk sentiments and ensuing crude oil prices.

Jateen Trivedi, the Senior Research Analyst at LKP Securities, opined that a rise in Brent crude price, USD 110 per barrel, made the rupee slip.

Meanwhile, diesel sold in bulk received a hike of Rs 25 per litre after a nearly 40 per cent rise happened in international oil prices.

The government's move will lead to severe inflation, Trivedi opined.

However, the US dollar recovered from recent falls after Federal Reserve Officials said that the central bank must take aggressive measures to deal with inflation.