Rupee rises 51 paise to ₹86.17 against US dollar in early trade

The rupee rose sharply by 51 paise against the US dollar to ₹86.17 in early trade on Friday amid a strong opening in the domestic equity markets, a weakening greenback, and decline in oil prices.

The rise in the local unit comes a day after US President Donald Trump suspended the additional 26% tariffs on India till July 9.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at ₹86.22 against the US dollar, up 46 paise from the previous close, before rising further to ₹86.17. The rupee had closed at ₹86.68 against the greenback on Wednesday.

Equity, forex, commodity markets were closed on Thursday on account of Shri Mahavir Jayanti.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.81% lower at 100.04.

Bhansali said the dollar index declined to decades low against Swiss Franc on Friday as waning confidence in the US economy prompted investors to ditch US assets to the benefit of safe havens like franc and yen, euro and gold.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.27% to USD 63.16 per barrel in futures trade.

In the domestic equity market, the 30-share BSE Sensex rose sharply by 1,204.02 points, or 1.63%, to 75,051.17, while the Nifty went up 385.25 points, or 1.72%, to 22,784.40.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) offloaded equities worth ₹4,358.02 crore on a net basis on Wednesday, according to exchange data.