Mumbai: Rising on the back of easing global crude oil prices and higher opening in domestic equity markets, Indian rupee recovered 42 paise to Rs 73.15 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday. The substantial gain in India currency came 3 days after crude oil prices registered its biggest single session fall in a span of 3 months. Brent crude prices dipped down by 4.37 per cent, biggest single day's fall to USD 76.24 barrel. The benchmark oil was trading near USD 76.79 barrel in early trade on Wednesday. On Tuesday, the local currency had ended almost flat at 73.57 against the US dollar. As per the provisional data, the net basis, foreign funds sold shares worth Rs 340.35 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares to the tune of Rs 116.41 crore on Tuesday. The benchmark BSE Sensex was trading sharply higher by 444.39 points or 1.31 per cent at 34,291.62 points in opening trade on Wednesday.

Speaking to news agency PTI earlier, V K Sharma, Head PCG & Capital Markets Group, HDFC Securities had said, “Rupee pared losses and closed flat as crude oil prices retreated and dollar selling by state run lenders on behalf of RBI.” Even the Bond markets managed to halt their decline as softer US yields supported the sentiment. The benchmark 10-year bond yield fell by 4 basis points, the most since October 16, to 7.89 per cent as investors cut down exposure to riskier assets.

The domestic currency settled at 73.57 per dollar, showing a loss of just 1 paise over the previous close on Tuesday. On Monday, the rupee had settled 24 paise lower at 73.56 against the US dollar. On Monday, the domestic indices felt for the fourth consecutive day tracking a sluggish trend in the global share market on geo-political tensions and worries over trade war.

The reports also highlights that the foreign investors took out more than Rs 850 crore from capital markets since Friday amid the ongoing geo-political crisis.