Rupee open: The domestic currency rupee opened higher on Wednesday, zooming 23 paise to 74.16 against the US dollar after the US Dollar weakened amid increased selling by exporters. Besides, RBI’s decision to inject Rs 12,000 crore liquidity into the system through purchase of government bonds on October 11 to meet the festival season demand for funds also supported the recovery in rupee, PTI reported dealers as saying.
Yesterday, the domestic currency crashed to new lows hitting 74.39 against the dollar in intra-day trade before staging a mild recovery to close at an all-time low of 74.3875. Notably, the currency depreciated by 32 paise even as concerns over India’s current account deficit (CAD), fund outflows and the continued pressure from RBI’s unexpected decision of keeping the repo rate unchanged weigh on the sentiments.
Today, a higher opening of domestic equity markets too aided the recovery in the domestic currency, as the Sensex opened more than 100 point higher at 34,409.67. At the forex market, the rupee strengthened by 23 paise to quote at 74.16 against the US dollar in early trade on fresh selling of the American currency by banks and exporters.
While the RBI has eased external commercial borrowings (ECBs) norms for OMCs, experts point out that the eased external commercial borrowings (ECBs) norms for OMCs is unlikely to check rupee plunge. “The latest move by RBI on relaxing the norms on overseas borrowing for state-run OMCs is a welcome step in the medium to long term but such a step may not be able to support rupee with an immediate succour,” State Bank of India’s Group Chief Economic Adviser Soumya Kanti Ghosh told the Indian Express adding that the central bank should consider more steps such as denominating the oil imports from Iran in rupees and opening dedicated dollar swap window for OMCs.
Source: financialexpress.com