Rupee depreciates 38 paise to 81.78 against dollar

Mumbai: Rupee was trading at 81.78 against US dollar in early trade on Monday, tracking a muted trend in domestic equities. The domestic unit depreciated 38 paise against the dollar on Monday morning trade. On Friday, the local currency settled at 81.36 against the greenback.
Oil jumped on Monday as Opec+ considers a cut to output this week, while Asia shares were mixed with holidays in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region likely to result in thin trading. Further, rupee may be pressurised by rise in crude oil prices. Traders say surging crude prices in the international market impacted the domestic unit. Government bond yields are expected to open higher on Monday, as concerns over debt supplies may resurface after weaker-than-expected demand at a debt auction on Friday. Bond prices and yields are inversely related. Traders attributed the rise in bond prices to foreign investors buying Indian notes on likely inclusion in global indexes.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, slipped 0.04 per cent to 112.08. The 30-share index was down 194 points to 57,231 whereas Nifty50 dipped 52 points to 17,042 at 9.30 IST on Monday.