Dollar vs Rupee Today: The rupee was last seen trading at 76.14 against the greenback
Dollar vs Rupee Today: The rupee gained as much as 0.76 per cent to 76.08 on Thursday, rebounding from an all-time low of 76.91 registered on the previous day, tracking strength in Asian peers and mild gains in domestic equity markets. The rupee started the day at 76.31 and touched 76.08 - up 58 paise - at the strongest level recorded in the first half of the four-hour session. It was last seen trading at 76.14 - up 52 paise or 0.68 per cent from the previous close - against the greenback. On Wednesday, the rupee had surpassed 76.87 to log a new all-time low of 76.91 before recovering intraday losses.
(Also Read: INR Vs USD - Rupee Sinks Below 76.87 To New All-Time Low)
Analysts say the rupee is likely to remain under pressure amid foreign fund outflows from domestic equities and strength of the dollar overseas.
There is a clear divergence between the economy and financial markets at the current juncture, brokerage Kotak Securities said in a note. "The rupee-dollar (USD-INR) pair is lacking a clear and clean trend as there are several overlapping highs and lows since end of March," it said.
Crude oil prices extended gains to a second straight day amid signs that producers are cutting supplies to cope with a collapse in demand on account of COVID-19.
Global oil price benchmark Brent crude was last seen trading up 1.6 per cent at $20.70 a barrel, having risen more than 5 per cent the previous day. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) - the benchmark for US oil prices - was up more than 2 per cent at $14.06 a barrel, a day after rising around a fifth.
"The pair cooled off yesterday as Facebook' $5.5-billion acquisition of a stake in Jio raised hopes that the FDI picture in 2020-21 will not be as bleak as earlier thought," said Abhishek Goenka, founder and CEO of forex advisory firm IFA Global.
On Wednesday, Facebook announced an investment of $5.7 billion in Reliance Industries' digital arm, in the social media giant's biggest deal since 2014.
"Correction is possible by say another one percent but broader dollar strength still prevails...The RBI has been buying duration bonds as seen in OMO (open market operation) activity since no players in the market are interested to get into duration apart from T- Bills," he added.
The dollar index - which gauges the strength of the greenback against six peers overseas - held near a two-week high. The index was last seen trading down 0.13 per cent, having risen 0.11 per cent earlier.
Domestic equity markets rose more than 1 per cent tracking gains in Asian peers as oil prices recovered from a collapse earlier this week.
The S&P BSE Sensex rose as much as 1.45 per cent - or 456.42 points - to touch 31,835.97 at the strongest level in morning deals, and the broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark climbed to as high as 9,323.55 compared to its previous close of 9,187.30.
Foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold Indian equities worth Rs 1,326.09 crore on Wednesday. FIIs have so far this month pulled out a net Rs 6,513.16 crore ($856.89 million) from domestic equities, according to data from NSDL.
As of Wednesday's close of 76.66 per dollar, the rupee is down 7.43 per cent - or 530 paise - against the dollar so far this year.
Earlier this month, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) trimmed the timings of currency markets in view of the coronavirus-induced lockdown imposed by the government to curb the spread of the pandemic.
The currency markets will continue to trade from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm till April 17, in contrast to the normal timings of 9:00 am-5:00 pm.
