Mumbai, March 31 (PTI): The rupee advanced by 16 paise to close at 75.74 against the US dollar on Thursday, tracking strong Asian peers and a fall in global crude oil prices.
The local unit, however, closed the 2021-22 fiscal with overall losses of 3.61 per cent or 264 paise against the American currency due to a stronger dollar and surging crude oil prices.
At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 75.67 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 75.66 and a low of 75.83.
The rupee finally settled at 75.74, registering a rise of 16 paise over its previous close. On Wednesday, the rupee dropped 17 paise to close at 75.90 against the US dollar.
According to Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities, the rupee appreciated on Thursday following strong Asian currencies and lower crude oil prices. On a quarterly basis, it was the second consecutive quarter marked with a loss against the dollar and in percentage terms the weakest quarter after March 2020.
"FY22 remained highly volatile for global forex markets as we had seen a surge in COVID-19, global central banks started unwinding quantitative easing on the back of higher inflation and in last geopolitical tension between Russia and Ukraine. Rupee depreciated 3.6 per cent in the current fiscal," Parmar said.
The rupee declined sharply at the beginning of the financial year amid lockdowns during the second wave of COVID-19 which impacted domestic businesses and the economy severely, said Praveen Singh - AVP, Fundamental currencies and Commodities analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
The unit recovered gradually on declining COVID-19 infections, reopening of the economy and upbeat economic data. Industrial production also picked up from May, indicating a recovery in the economy.
However, the rupee started to weaken again on the rising US dollar from October onwards. The dollar gained ground as many Fed officials turned hawkish, signalling hiking benchmark rates aggressively and tightening the policy, Singh said. The rupee declined further in the last quarter of FY2021-22 as Russia invaded Ukraine, which impacted global market sentiments. Riskier assets fell while safe-haven assets like the Dollar and Gold rallied. Rupee (Spot) touched its all-time low of Rs 77.15 per dollar in March.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.40 per cent to 98.18.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell sharply by 5.59 per cent to USD 107.11 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 115.48 points or 0.20 per cent lower at 58,568.51, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 33.50 points or 0.19 per cent to 17,464.75.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Wednesday as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,357.47 crore, according to stock exchange data.
Disclaimer: This story is auto-generated from news agency feeds and has not been edited by The Morung Express.
Source: PTI
