Rupee settled 11 paise higher against the dollar at 74.16
The rupee appreciated 11 paise to settle at 74.16 (provisional) against the US dollar on Friday (November 20) supported by a positive opening in the domestic equities and weakness in the American currency. At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 74.15 against the dollar, registering a rise of 12 paise over its previous close. It touched an intra-day high of 74.09 and a low of 74.21. On Thursday, November 19, the rupee settled at 74.27 against the dollar. According to traders, foreign fund inflows into the domestic equity markets also helped the local unit.
“The rupee is currently drawing a lot of support from equity inflows and the fact that the dollar globally is on the back foot,” said Sugandha Sachdeva VP-Metals, Energy & Currency Research, Religare Broking. He added that going forward, the rupee has scope to further appreciate till 73.80. However, beyond that, the RBI would step in to curtail its move, while dollar index may also rebound given the uncertain growth outlook in the US.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.08 percent higher at 92.36. On the domestic equity market front, the BSE benchmark Sensex closed 282 points higher with 43,882 points and the NSE Nifty rose 87.35 points to settle at 12,859.05.
The foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,180.61 crore on a net basis on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.38 per cent to USD 44.37 per barrel.
”To prevent appreciation in the pair, RBI has so far remained active by absorbing the foreign inflows that have been witnessed in heavy quantum. It will be important to see how long and to what extent RBI is comfortable with the strength in rupee. However, if RBI gets lenient in the FX intervention, then the pair is shall swiftly move close to 73.50 levels amid the given surge in inflows,” said Amit Pabari, Managing Director, Forex Advisory Firm CR Forex.