On Monday, the Indian rupee remained almost unchanged from its previous close and traded at 83.73 provisional for the US dollar, marking a positive movement for INR vs USD rate. This stability was after the rupee had ranged within a small oscillation for the whole day. Reduced crude oil prices could have benefitted the rupee; in turn, the firm stand of the American currency in the foreign exchange markets had negative impacts on the benefits.
The forex traders noted that the increased recovery of the US dollar and general dollar demand from the importers restrained the majority of the forex benefits to the domestic currency. Similarly, the interbank foreign exchange market showed that the rupee opened at 83.70 and reached the minimum figure of 83.74 against the dollar during the trading session. Finally, the rupee ended up settled at 83.73 (provisional), the same as the previous day’s closing, and there was no change.
On Friday, the rupee had made a slight improvement, gaining 5 paise more from its all-time low of 83.73 to the US dollar. However, there was some relief to this factor in the recent past, and the currency struggled with the pressure coming from the dollar. The dollar index, an index coupled with six major trading partners, closed at 104. 48, reflecting a 0. 16 percent increase.
In domestic equity markets, the 30-share Bombay Stock Exchange’s sensitive index, S&P Sensex, increased by 23.12 points, or 0.03 percent, and finally ended the day at 81,355.84 points. Similarly, the Nifty index has increased and recorded a gain of 1.25 points, or 0.01 percent, reaching 24,836.10 points.
On the other hand, for Brent crude oil, there was a small rise of 0.10 percent, and the shares that it traded at were valued at USD 81.21 per barrel. It should, however, be noted that the rupee movement was subjected to both the higher oil prices and the consistently strong US dollar alongside the variation in importers’ demand.
FIIs were net buyers in the capital markets on Friday as they purchased shares to the tune of Rs 2,546.38 crore, as per the details available with the stock exchange. Some support to the domestic equity markets came from the resulting net buying activity; however, the returned INR vs USD exchange rate effect was small.
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