Mumbai :
The rupee slid 8 paise to close at 74.83 to the US dollar on Friday, tracking lacklustre equities amid worries that the US-China friction will further dent global economic recovery. The rupee opened on a weak note at 74.94 at the interbank forex market and moved in the range of 74.80 to 74.98 during the session.
The Indian unit finally closed at 74.83 against the US dollar, down 8 paise over its previous close. On weekly basis, the domestic currency logged gains of 19 paise over the American unit.
“Indian rupee registered second weekly gains following weaker dollar and foreign fund inflows in domestic equity. So far this week, foreign institutions have bought worth USD 732.3 million equities and sold USD 185.7 million debt,” said Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head Retail Research, HDFC Securities. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.04 per cent to 94.72.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.16 per cent to USD 43.38 per barrel. Forex traders said growing tensions between the US and China have largely led to subdued sentiment in financial markets globally and sparked fears that the global economic recovery will take further hit due to the tussle between two countries.
China on Friday ordered the US to close down its consulate in Chengdu in retaliation to Washington’s decision to shut the Chinese mission in Houston, further straining the already tense bilateral ties. On the domestic equity market front, benchmarks Sensex and Nifty settled marginally lower.
“Rupee traded-range bound as higher gold and crude prices keep import bills higher and some FII selling also witnessed in equities which kept the rupee little weak,” Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst (Commodity & Currency) at LKP Securities, said. The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 74.7548 and for rupee/euro at 86.6458. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 95.2850 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 69.79.
Meanwhile, the number of cases around the world linked to COVID-19 has crossed 1.55 crore and the death toll has topped 6.33 lakh. In India, the death toll due the disease rose to 30,601 and the number of infections stood at 12,87,945, according to the health ministry.
