Rupee Vs Dollar Today: The rupee settled at 74.94 against the dollar
After a weak opening session, the rupee edged lower by six paise against the US dollar on Thursday, April 22, to settle at 74.94 (provisional), as the relentless rise in COVID-19 infections and new restrictions on mobility weighed on investor sentiment. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the domestic unit opened at 75.25 against the American currency and traded in the range of 74.82 to 75.26 through the session. In an early trade session, the local unit fell below 75 per dollar. The rupee settled at 74.94 against the greenback, registering a decline of six paise over the previous close.
On Tuesday, April 20, the local unit had settled at 74.88 against the dollar. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, slipped 0.07 per cent to 91.09. On Wednesday, April 21, forex and equity markets were closed on account of Ram Navami.
”With RBI keeping a control on weakness in rupee one may ask exporters to sell near to 75.30 levels as this level has come three times in the last two weeks. Importers may wait for better levels to buy dollars while they may buy cash near to 74.90 levels,” said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head- Treasury, Finrex Treasury Advisors.
”A slide in the rupee is exacerbating a slump in Indian corporate dollar notes that are now among the worst performers in Asia, the weaker rupee pushes up servicing costs on foreign debt. The currency has plunged about 2.4 per cent against the dollar this month, USDINR Spot has given a breakout above 75.00 level indicating for a bullish momentum up to 75.68-75.85 in the coming session,” said Kshitij Purohit, Product Manager, Currency and Commodities at CapitalVia Global Research Limited.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 374.87 points or 0.79 per cent higher at 48,080.67, while the broader NSE Nifty climbed 109.75 points or 0.77 per cent to 14,406.15. ””The Nifty/Sensex has formed a bullish piercing pattern by closing above the median of the previous day, which was at 14367/47958 levels that can be found at the end of a downtrend,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities.
”Today the market breadth was healthy and it was mainly due to renewed buying interest in Financials. The Bank-Nifty closed at the highest point of the day. The focus should be on Financials and Metal stocks,” he added.
According to provisional data, the foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital markets, pulling out Rs 1,082.33 crore on April 20. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, were trading 0.54 per cent down at $ 64.97 per barrel.