Indian Rupee Versus US Dollar: On Tuesday, the Indain rupee gave up its early gains against the US dollar, closing 6 paise down at 76.60, as investors grew cautious ahead of the US Federal Reserve meeting amid increased concern about the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

Furthermore, forex traders noted that significant selling in local equities and sustained foreign capital outflows put pressure on the domestic unit. Markets are jittery because of the situation in Ukraine and the expectation of a rate hike by the US Federal Reserve on Wednesday, they said.

The rupee opened strong versus the dollar at 76.40 on the interbank foreign exchange market. However, it later gave up gains, falling into negative territory as investors became wary of the escalating Russia-Ukraine crisis. During the day, it fluctuated between 76.32 and 76.68.

At 3.30 p.m., the local currency was trading at 76.60 per dollar, down 6 paise from the previous closing.In the meantime, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was down 0.31 percent at 98.71. The 30-share Sensex fell 709.17 points, or 1.26 percent, to 55,776.85, while the wider NSE Nifty fell 208.30 points, or 1.23 percent, to 16,663.

Meanwhile, Brent crude futures fell 5.36 percent to USD 101.17 a barrel, the worldwide benchmark.

According to exchange statistics, foreign institutional investors maintained their selling binge in Indian markets on Friday, offloading shares worth RS176.52 crore on a net basis.

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