Indian rupee Vs dollar: Rupee surges despite drop in domestic equities

Indian rupee was trading at 65.436 above 0.225 paisa or 0.34% against the dollar index.

Illustration of Rs 2000 banknote. Photo: Reuters

Indian rupee was trading on a positive note on Monday against US benchmark dollar index in forex market. In early opening, the domestic unit was up 20 paise to 65.40 against the US dollar on global trade war concerns, dip in India's exports in March and a sharp drop in domestic equities.

At around 1200 hours, Indian rupee was trading at 65.436 above 0.225 paisa or 0.34% against the dollar index.

Geopolitical tensions over Syria and trade war concerns weighed on the domestic unit. But, a weak dollar against major global currencies capped some losses, forex dealers said in a PTI report.

The India’s trade deficit almost doubled in 2017-18 compared to the previous fiscal as the country’s import bill continued to inflate.

According to data released by the commerce ministry, it was known that, gap between exports and imports, widened by 28.5% from a year ago to $13.7 billion in the month of March - taking the annual deficit to $87.2 billion. In the corresponding period of March 2017, the deficit was at $47.7 billion.

Moreover, FPI investors on Friday made inflows of Rs 644.63 crore together in equity, hybrid and debt market.

During previous trading, the rupee closed higher by 6 paise at 65.20 on Friday on the back of positive macroeconomic data and firm local equities.

Meanwhile on Monday, the benchmark BSE Sensex was trading at 34,108.13 down by 84.52 points or 0.25%, however in early trade, the index dropped 293.31 points, or 0.85%, to 33,899.34.

On the other hand, Nifty 50 surged by 15.85 points or 0.15% trading at 10,464.75.

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