Rupee depreciates 15 paise against US dollar

Mumbai: The Indian rupee depreciated 15 paise in early trade on Thursday tracking weak macroeconomic data, rising crude prices and negative cues from global markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened marginally higher at 72.05 against the US dollar, before turning negative and dropping 15 paise to 72.24 against its previous close.

On Wednesday, the local unit crashed 62 paise to hit an over two-month low of 72.09 to the US dollar as poor macro data and lingering worries over US-China trade war weighed on sentiment.

Overall market sentiment remains weak on account of weak macro numbers and negative global cues, forex traders said.

Retail price based consumer inflation spiked to 16-month high of 4.62 per cent in October on costlier food items, reducing the headroom for a rate cut by the RBI in its monetary policy due next month.

The inflation in the food basket spiked to 7.89 per cent in October 2019 as against 5.11 per cent the preceding month, showed the data released by the Central Statistics Office under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on Wednesday.

On the global front, Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell the US economy is likely to continue to grow, but faces continued risks from the global slowdown and trade disputes, which have already dampened expansion.

Also, China's industrial output grew much slower than expected in October, as its trade war with the US weighed its overall economy.

Meanwhile, domestic bourses opened a tad higher on Thursday with benchmark indices Sensex trading 41.37 points, or 0.10 per cent, up at 40,157.43; and Nifty rising 6.35 points, or 0.05 per cent, at 11,846.80.

Foreign institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 584.92 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data.

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, slipped 0.02 per cent to 98.35.

Crude oil benchmark, Brent futures, rose 0.42 per cent to USD 62.63 per barrel. The 10-year government bond yield was at 6.53 per cent in morning trade.