Rupee falls by 12 paise to 79.76 against US dollar in opening trade

The rupee depreciated 12 paise to 79.76 against the US dollar in opening trade on Friday, tracking the strength of the American currency in the overseas market.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 79.75 against the US dollar, then fell to 79.76, registering a decline of 12 paise over the last close.

On Thursday, the rupee depreciated 19 paise to close at 79.64 against the US dollar.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.13 per cent to 107.62.

Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.37 per cent to USD 96.23 per barrel.

The rupee opened weaker on Friday after the dollar index reached a 1-month high following comments from US Federal Reserve officials over the quantum of rate hikes, said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.

Supports for the USD/INR spot pair are at 79.60 and 79.50 and resistances are at 79.80 and 79.90. A break above the resistances will push the pair to 80.15 levels, Iyer said.

"The rupee could also track the weakness in Asian and emerging market peers led by a fall in the offshore Chinese Yuan," Iyer said, adding that "additionally, strong importers demand for dollars and speculative buying of dollars could also weigh on the domestic unit."

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 17.07 points or 0.03 per cent higher at 60,315.07, while the broader NSE Nifty was up 15.35 points or 0.09 per cent to 17,971.85.

Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 1,706.00 crore, as per exchange data.