Rupee falls against US dollar

NEW DELHI: Continuing its recent weakness, rupee depreciated 6 paise to 63.83 against dollar in trade today.

The local unit had settled 2 paise lower at 63.77 against the greenback in the preceding session.

Dollar was seen strengthening against major world currencies including euro and yen ahead of US non-farm payrolls data scheduled later for the day. The data could further strengthen the case for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates in September.

Recent set of data are already making a strong case for rate hikes in the US. Figures released on Wednesday showed that the US services sector expanded at its fastest pace in 10 years. The US Markit services PMI rose to 55.7 in July from a five-month low of 54.8 in June.

Earlier this week, Atlanta Federal Reserve President Dennis Lockhart, who is a voter on the Federal Open Market Committee, expressed support for an interest rate hike in September.

On Thursday, Dollar index that tracks the movement of dollar against a trade-weighted basket of six major world currencies stood at 97.83. During the day, the Bank of Japan was scheduled to hold a monetary policy meeting. Meanwhile, British pound declined against dollar after the Bank of England ruled out early hike in interest rates.