Rupee opens stronger at 45.06/08 per USD but falls sharply

Mumbai, Apr 19: The rupee today opened stronger at 45.06/08 per US dollar against the previous close of 45.18/19, said a foreign exchange (forex) dealer here.

However, the rupee dipped sharply in the midmorning session and traded nine to ten paise down at 45.1550/1650 at 1058 hrs.

Crude oil price in the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) touched a new high of USD 71.02 per barrel, which was keeping rupee under pressure.

However, another 140 plus points rally today morning in the stock markets took the Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index (Sensex) to an all time high of 11,963 points, which will comfort rupee.

There was an inflow of around 250 crore in the equity markets on Monday according to market regulator SEBI after four sessions of selling by the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) which will also support rupee.

UNI