Indian rupee strengthens as greenback weakens

After last few sessions of weakness, the Indian rupee has strengthened against the greenback (US dollar) on Friday.

While the American currency weakened against other currencies overseas, back home the investors were enthused by a strong rally in the domestic equity markets. Both the benchmark indices Nifty and Sensex registered biggest single-day gains in last 10 years. Sensex closed at 38,014.62, up by 1921.15 points or 5.32 per cent, while, Nifty settled at 11,274.20, up by 569.40 points or 5.32 per cent.

However, sustained foreign fund outflows and rising crude prices weighed on the rupee and restricted its rise. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, pulling out Rs. 892.52 crore on Thursday, according to provisional exchange data.

On the global front, the US dollar fell against major global currencies as the central banks in Switzerland and the UK refrained from following the Federal Reserve’s decision of reducing the interest rates, while risk appetite ebbed on caution on Sino-US trade talks.

The partially convertible currency of India is currently trading at 70.88 per dollar, stronger by 46 paise from its previous close of 71.34 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 71.1900 and 70.6800, respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 71.31 and for Euro stood at 78.90 on September 18, 2019. Meanwhile, the reference rate for the Yen stood at 65.90, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 89.06.