Rupee rises 24 paise to 95.72 against U.S. dollar in early trade

The rupee gained 24 paise to 95.72 against U.S. dollar in early trade on Monday (September 21, 2026), supported by a slight moderation in crude oil prices and a positive trend in domestic equities.

Forex traders said initial gains in domestic equities and improved foreign fund sentiment boosted investor sentiment, but sustained importer demand for greenbacks from oil companies and broader strength in the U.S. dollar Index weighed on the local unit.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 95.86 against the U.S. dollar, then gained some ground to touch 95.72 against the American currency, registering a gain of 24 paise from its previous close.

On Friday (September 18), the rupee closed lower by 7 paise at 95.96 against the U.S. dollar.

“The rupee closed at 95.89 on Friday (September 18) after being defended near 96 last week. We expect a broad range of 95.60–96.50, with the 96.40–96.50 zone acting as stiff resistance,” said Anindya Banerjee, Head of Commodity and Currency Research, Kotak Securities.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 100.31, higher by 0.09%. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 2.10% at $101.69 per barrel in futures trade.

“Brent had a highly volatile last week: it closed at $105.68 on Monday (September 14), jumped to $108.75 on Tuesday (September 15) after touching a weekly high of $109.45, before reversing sharply as concerns over Saudi supply disruptions began to ease,” said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.

On the domestic equities market front, Sensex jumped 448.32 points to 74,743.28 in early trade; Nifty up 50.3 points to 23,396.70.

Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bought equities worth ₹599.54 crore on a net basis on Friday (September 18), according to exchange data.

Meanwhile, India’s forex reserves dropped by $4.924 billion to $780.782 billion during the week ended September 11 due to a fall in foreign currency and gold reserves, according to the RBI data released on Friday (September 18).