Mumbai, August 18 (PTI): The rupee largely shrugged off the high volatility in stocks and ended steady at 64.15 against the US dollar even as investors reacted to US political turmoil and terror attack in Spain. Forex market anxiety initially heightened after a terrorist attack in Barcelona and also rumour that economic advisor to President Trump, Gary Cohn, had resigned.
Bearish dollar overseas trend along with abundant capital inflows into domestic equities largely supplemented strength to the local currency. Currency traders and speculators also preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of weekend. While, domestic equities followed global sell-offs.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange market, the home currency resumed lower at 64.18 as against Wednesday’s close of 64.15 due to mild dollar pressure. Later, it made a smart recovery to hit an intra-day high of 64.08 in mid-morning deals and confined within a tight range most part of the day before giving back all early gains towards the fag-end trade to settle unchanged at 64.15.
For the week, the rupee softened by a mere 2 paise. In the meantime, domestic bourses succumbed to frantic wave of profit-taking, halting a three-day winning streak as investors’ sentiment took a heavy beating following the announcement of Vishal Sikka’s resignation as Infosys CEO and Managing Director. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 981.05 crore yesterday.
On the global front, the dollar pushed lower against the other major currencies on Friday in the midst of political fallout for Donald Trump and also impacted by the release of dovish US Federal Open Market Committee minutes on Wednesday. The RBI, meanwhile, fixed the reference rate for the dollar at 64.1048 and for the euro at 75.2078. The dollar index, which measures the greenback’s value against a basket of six major currencies, was down at 93.43.
In cross-currency trades, the rupee fell back modestly against the pound sterling to end at 82.59 from 82.54 per pound and retreated sharply against the Japanese yen to finish at 58.82 per 100 yens from 57.90 earlier. It also drifted against the Euro to close at 75.31 from 75.12 previously. In forward market today, premium for dollar gained marginally due to mild paying pressure from corporates.
The benchmark six-month premium payable in January edged up to 125-127 paise from 124-126 paise and the far forward July 2018 contract also moved higher to 259.50-261.50 from 256-258 paise. On the international commodity front, crude prices traded modestly higher in early Asian trade after data showed Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports in June dropped to their lowest level in 33 months and also supported by fluctuating dollar and US weekly rig count data.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at USD 51.10 per barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at USD 47.22 a barrel, down 7 cents, or 0.2 per cent.
PRICES-MUM-BULLION-CLOSING
Mumbai, August 18 (PTI): SILVER SPOT (.999 FINENESS) : 39300.00 STANDARD GOLD (99.5 PURITY) : 29135.00 PURE GOLD (99.9 PURITY) : 29285.00 .
