Rupee gains 5 paise to 88.63 against U.S. dollar in early trade

The local currency, however, remained under pressure tracking a firm greenback and negative cues from domestic equity markets, forex traders said.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 88.67 and gained some ground to trade at 88.63 against the U.S. dollar in initial deals, up 5 paise from its previous closing level.

On Thursday (November 20, 2025), the rupee depreciated 20 paise to close at 88.68 against the U.S. dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was 0.01% up at 100.09.

Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 1.29% lower at $62.56 per barrel in futures trade.

On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex declined 172.32 points to 85,460.36 in early trade, while the Nifty was down 59.35 points to 26,132.80.

Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth ₹283.65 crore on a net basis on Thursday (November 20, 2025), according to exchange data.

The government data released on Thursday (November 20, 2025) showed the pace of growth in the country’s eight key infrastructure sectors stayed flat year-on-year in October as expansion in output of petroleum refinery products, fertilizer and steel was offset by a contraction in coal and electricity production.

The eight core industries of coal, crude oil, natural gas, petroleum refinery products, electricity, fertilizer, and steel had expanded by 3.3% in September and by 3.8% in October 2024.