Rupee spurts by 22 paise to 74.44 against U.S. dollar in early trade

Rupee opened on a strong note at 74.51 to a dollar at the interbank foreign exchange market

The rupee spurted by 22 paise to 74.44 in early trade on February 21 on softer crude oil prices and revived hopes of a diplomatic solution to the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

The local currency opened on a strong note at 74.51 to a dollar at the interbank foreign exchange market against the previous close of 74.66 on Friday.

The rupee gained further ground to trade at 74.44 at 1030 hours, supported by benign crude oil prices.

Reports suggested that the U.S. and Russia have agreed to hold a summit on the Ukraine standoff, calming jittery investors. The reports also suggested that one of the preconditions for the summit is that Russia would not invade Ukraine, raising hopes of a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Of late, crude oil prices have spurted on fears of supply disruption due to a possible invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

The Brent Crude on Monday dropped by 0.34% to $93.22 per barrel. The U.S. dollar index also edged lower by 0.21% to 95.84.

Foreign investors remained net sellers in Indian capital markets as they sold equities worth Rs 2,529.96 crore on a net basis on Friday.