Mumbai, February 16 The rupee closed with a loss of 8 paise at 90.74 against the US dollar on Monday, weighed down by a strong American currency and foreign fund outflows.
According to forex traders, lower crude oil prices and positive domestic equity markets capped a sharp fall in the Indian currency.
In the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.63 against the US dollar and moved between an intraday high of 90.61 and a low of 90.74 during the session.
The domestic unit closed the session at 90.74 against the greenback, down 8 paise from the previous closing level.
On Friday, the rupee depreciated 5 paise to settle at 90.66 against the US dollar.
Jateen Trivedi, VP Research Analyst - Commodity and Currency, LKP Securities, said that the rupee traded largely flat as market participants remained cautious, while recovery in the secondary market after a weak opening helped stabilise the currency.
"The overall trend remains range-bound, with immediate resistance placed near 90.25 and support seen around 90.90. Unless there is a decisive break on either side, the rupee is likely to continue trading within this consolidation band," Trivedi said.
According to Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan, "Investors may now watch out for housing market and GDP data from the US this week. The USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 90.30 to Rs 90.90."
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.09 per cent higher at 96.91.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.47 per cent lower at USD 67.43 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex climbed 650.39 points or 0.79 per cent to settle at 83,277.15, while the Nifty jumped 211.65 points or 0.83 per cent to 25,682.75.
On Monday, foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 972.13 crore, according to exchange data.
Government data released on Monday showed that wholesale price inflation extended upward momentum for the third straight month, at 1.81 per cent in January, driven by an uptick in prices of food, non-food articles, and manufactured items on a month-on-month basis.
Wholesale Price Index (WPI)-based inflation was 2.51 per cent in January last year, while in the previous month (December 2025), it was 0.83 per cent.
