The rupee snapped a five-day losing streak and recorded its biggest single-day in more than a month on Tuesday, as reports suggested that US President-elect Donald Trump is likely to be less aggressive with his policies on tariff. Other Asian currencies, too, gained between 0.2% and 0.9% vis a vis the greenback.
The rupee, after hitting an intra-day low of 85.80/$, settled at 85.72, a gain of 11 paise, or 0.12%, over the previous close. The dollar index fell 0.3% to 107.9. A report by the Washington Post on Monday said Trump’s aides were exploring tariff plans that would apply to every country, but only cover certain sectors deemed critical to national or economic security, prompting a slump in the dollar index.
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“This is a temporary relief as the market is largely anticipating further depreciation in the rupee owing to a strong dollar in coming days,” said a forex trader with a private bank.
Another positive for the rupee was prices of crude oil which fell for the second straight session. Brent Crude, the global oil benchmark, fell to $76.36 a barrel as the optimism over demand due to growth, particularly from China, faded .
Equity indices gained on Tuesday after a decline of 2.5% over the last two sessions. The Sensex rose 234 points, or 0.30%, to close at 78,199.11, partly driven by value buying in index heavyweights. The NSE Nifty rose 91.85 points, or 0.39%, to 23,707.90.
The overall market breadth was positive, with two gainers for every loser. Broader markets outperformed the benchmarks, with the BSE midcap and BSE smallcap indices advancing 0.77% and 1.74%, respectively.
Barring IT and teck, all the sectoral indices ended in the green. Energy, oil & gas and industrials were the top performers, rising up to 1.55%, while IT and teck declined 0.36% and 0.51%, respectively. The Bank Nifty gained 0.56%.
Investors’ wealth surged by Rs 2.96 lakh crore to Rs 441.75 lakh crore.
Foreign portfolio investors were net sellers for the third consecutive day, offloading shares worth Rs 1,491.46 crore, while domestic institutional investors were net buyers, purchasing equities worth Rs 1,615.28 crore, according to provisional exchange data.
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