USD/INR Closed at 71.16 against its opening at 71.23. USD/INR closed down on Mondayas on buying by foreign banks tracking a strong greenback. Mostly, the spot pair traded in a tight range as a strong trading in greenback offset selling by exporters and impact of lower Brent. The spot pair remained mostly in a tight range as despite lower Brent and exporters selling, dollar is strong and few foreign banks are on the buy-side.
Crude oil prices dipped following a pick up in US drilling activity and as Russia's biggest oil producer pressured President Vladimir Putin to end the supply cut deal with Middle East dominated producer club OPEC. Brent crude oil futures traded 0.77% down at $61.65 a barrel on Monday.
The greenback surged against major peers on fresh concern over US-Sino trade tensions and global growth, which drove appetite for safe-haven assets.
The dollar index, which tracks the movement of the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, traded at 96.73 during late evening Monday compared to 96.57 at previous close.
Risk sentiments stifled last week after reports of the US President Donald Trump said he did not plan to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a March 1 deadline set by the two countries to achieve a trade deal.This week, US negotiators will press China on longstanding demands to reform how it treats US companies' intellectual property in order to seal a trade deal that could prevent tariffs from rising on Chinese imports.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is scheduled to join the US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer in Beijing for high-level trade talks this week.Adding to that, the US government could be headed for another shutdown as political tensions flare between Congress and the President, which again weigh on sentiments
Sensex provisionally ends 123 points lower with 19 components in the red.