Rupee Vs Dollar: The rupee weakened to as low as 76.30 against the dollar during the session
Rupee Vs Dollar Today: The rupee ended marginally lower at 76.19 on Friday amid a mixed trend in Asian currencies, after moving in a range between 76.17 and 76.30 during the four-hour session. Gains in equity markets along with foreign inflows helped the rupee trim most of the day's losses, say analysts. For the week, it registered a loss of 35 paise or 0.46 per cent, depreciating for a second straight week. In the week ended June 12, the currency had weakened by 27 paise against the greenback.
Domestic stock markets climbed up nearly 3 per cent for the week, with the S&P BSE Sensex index adding 950.84 points to 34,731.73 and the broader NSE Nifty 50 benchmark gained 271.5 points to 10,244.40.
International crude oil prices picked up nearly 8 per cent during this period, in anticipation of tightening supply going forward as top producers agreed to discuss production cuts. Brent crude futures - the global benchmark for crude oil - gained from $39 per barrel to $42 per barrel.
Analysts say the rupee is expected to continue to trade sideways within a range in the near term.
"The rupee continues to underperform its peers in Asia in spite of robust capital flows, on account of massive reserve accumulation by RBI and also due to concerns at the Indo-China border," Anindya Banerjee, DVP-currency derivatives and interest rate derivatives at Kotak Securities, told NDTV.
"Over the past one month, forex reserves are up nearly $20 billion primarily due to spot purchases of foreign currency by the RBI," he said.
The country's forex reserves appreciated by $5.94 billion to a record $507.64 billion in the week ended June 12, a week after crossing the $500 billion mark for the first time ever, central bank data showed on Friday.
According to Mr Banerjee, the current trend in forex reserves is expected to continue which may restrict much gain in the rupee against the greenback. "A broad range of 75.80 to 76.50 can unfold in spot," he said.
Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) net purchased Indian equities worth Rs 556.61 crore ($73.09 million) on Friday, exchange data showed. However, for the week, foreign outflows in the country's share markets stood at Rs 2,313.58 crore, following inflows of Rs 2,026.28 crore in the previous week.
Currency markets currently operate within reduced trading hours due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown. The temporary timings are from 10 am to 2 pm, instead of the normal timings of 9 am to 5 pm.
At the current level, the rupee is down 6.77 per cent against the dollar so far this year.
