Indian rupee opened higher by 17 paise against the US dollar on Monday amid steady oil prices and gains in domestic equity market.

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At 09:10 AM, the rupee was trading at 73.30 a dollar, up 17 paise from its Friday’s close of 73.47. The home currency opened at 73.30 and touched a high and a low of 73.26 and 73.38 a dollar, respectively.

The rupee depreciated by 20 paise to close at 73.47 against the US dollar Friday amid a strengthening greenback and sustained foreign capital outflows.

Despite the gains and calmer financial markets early on Monday, sentiment among traders remained cautious due to a spike in dollar and overseas fund outflows from the domestic markets.

The dollar held firm against a basket of its key rivals on Monday, not far off a 10-week peak hit while front-month Brent crude oil futures were at $77.77 a barrel at 0033 GMT, up 15 cents, or 0.2 percent, from their last close.

Unabated capital outflows by foreign funds continued to dampen the sentiment, according to market experts.

Foreign funds pulled out Rs 1,356.66 crore from the capital markets on a net basis, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 1,875.89 crore Thursday, provisional data showed.

The rupee is the worst performing emerging market currency having lost almost 15 percent since January this year. Between April and September the rupee has plummeted more than 7 to the dollar.

In debt markets, the yields on the 10-year government bonds fell 0.60 percent to 7.83 percent after closing at 7.88 percent on Friday. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

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First Published:Oct 29, 2018 9:16 AM IST