Mumbai:The rupee started New Year on a positive note.
Gaining by 15 paise against greenback, rupee touched 69.62 in early trade on Tuesday.
Besides weakness in greenback against some currencies overseas, said forex traders, increased selling of US currency by exporters and banks supported rupee.
At interbank forex market, rupee opened higher at 69.63 and rose further to quote at 69.62, showing a rise of 15 paise over its previous close.The rupee had on Monday signed off last trading session of 2018 with a gain of 18 paise at 69.77 per dollar.Meanwhile, dollar index, which gauges American currencies strength against a basket of six currencies was trading lower by 0.02 per cent at 96.15.Traders said foreign fund outflows and higher crude oil prices weighed on local unit and capped upmove.Foreign funds pulled out Rs 326.87 crore from capital markets on a net basis, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 321.98 crore Monday, provisional data showed.Globally, Brent crude, international benchmark, was trading 1.11 per cent higher at $53.80 per barrel.Meanwhile, BSE benchmark Sensex turned choppy after opening higher in early trade Tuesday amid sustained capital outflows by foreign funds and surging global crude oil prices.The 30-share index dropped over 85.77 points, or 0.24 per cent, to 35,982.56 in morning trade, after touching a high of 36,161.80 at outset.