Rupee Vs Dollar: The rupee is down6.84% against the greenback so far this year
The rupee weakened by as much as 20 paise - or 0.26 per cent - against the US dollar on Tuesday, as the country remained in an extended lockdown to curb the fast-spreading coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Strength in the dollar overseas and volatility in domestic stock markets, which took a breather amid weakness in banking stocks, kept the rupee under pressure, say analysts. As of Monday's close, the rupee is down 6.84 per cent (488 paise) against the greenback so far this year.
After starting the day at 76.33 against the greenback, the rupee declined to as low as 76.44 in the first half of the four-hour session.
On Monday, the Reserve Bank of India opened a special liquidity facility worth Rs 50,000 crore for mutual funds, in a bid to help the industry tide over a severe liquidity strain imposed by the coronavirus outbreak. The central bank said heightened volatility in capital markets in reaction to COVID-19 has imposed liquidity strains on mutual funds.
Fund houses in the country have struggled to allay investors' fears of a flood of redemption requests after the prominent Franklin Templeton Mutual Fund said on Thursday it would wind up six credit funds for lack of liquidity.
Domestic stock markets gave up early gains on Tuesday amid choppy trade. The S&P BSE Sensex and NSE Nifty 50 benchmark indices fluctuated between gains and losses in late morning deals, having risen more than 1 per cent each earlier.
The dollar index - which gauges the greenback's strength against six peers overseas - rose as much as 0.12 per cent, and was last seen trading up 0.06 per cent at 100.1060.
Crude oil prices slumped, extending the previous session's slide, on worries about limited capacity to store crude worldwide and expectations that fuel demand may only recover slowly as coronavirus pandemic restrictions are gradually eased.
Brent crude futures - the global benchmark for oil rates - fell to a low of $18.97, and were last down 4.1 per cent at $19.17 a barrel.
Currency markets currently operate for reduced trading hours due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The temporary timings are from 10 am to 2 pm, instead of the original 9 am to 5 pm.
