Finance
The rupee surged 51 paise against the US dollar to 86.17 in early trade on Friday, fueled by a good opening in domestic share markets, a falling greenback, and a drop in oil prices. The surge in the local unit comes a day after US President Donald Trump deferred extra 26% tariffs on India until July 9.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit began at 86.22 versus the US dollar, up 46 paise from the previous close, before rising to 86.17. The rupee finished at 86.68 versus the dollar on Wednesday. The equity, exchange, and commodity markets were closed on Thursday in observance of Shri Mahavir Jayanti.
“Rupee is expected to rise above 86 with dollar index down below its September low of 100.20 with expectations of a further fall to 95 levels. A good uptick has allowed exporters to cover their exports holding and any upside due to risk aversion should be utilised for further covers,” Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said. He added that the domestic unit is likely to trade in the range of 86.00-86.60 during the day.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.81 per cent lower at 100.04.
According to Bhansali, the dollar index fell to a decades-low versus the Swiss Franc on Friday as investors fled US assets in favor of safe havens such as the franc, yen, euro, and gold.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, lost 0.27% to USD 63.16 a barrel in futures trading. In the domestic equities market, the 30-share BSE Sensex surged 1,204.02 points, or 1.63 percent, to 75,051.17, while the Nifty advanced 385.25 points, or 1.72 percent, to 22,784.40. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities worth Rs 4,358.02 crore on a net basis on Wednesday, according to exchange data.
Source: FE
