Rupee opens on a positive note, up by 4 paise against US dollar in early trade at Rs 71.95

Mumbai: The rupee on Friday opened on a positive note and was trading marginally higher by 4 paise at 71.95 to the US dollar. A slight weakness was seen in the American unit against some currencies including the yen on fears that US President Donald Trump would take up trade issues with Japan. The dollar trend overseas supported the rupee but losses in domestic equities kept investors mood dampened, capping the domestic currency’s gains. The rupee Thursday plunged to a new record low of 72.11 a dollar in intra-day trade before closing at 71.99, showing a steep 24 paise fall. The rupee has been under immense pressure due to a host of reasons including soaring crude oil prices, sustained foreign fund outflows and widening current account deficit. Besides, escalation in global trade war tiff too weighed on sentiments. [caption id=“attachment_5131081” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image.[/caption] But primarily it was weakness in emerging market currencies overseas which boosted the dollar, resulting in a duress for the domestic currency. The domestic currency has been under immense pressure ever since international crude prices crossed the significant $70 per barrel mark. Adding to pressure point, the 10-year G-Sec yield maintained its steady uptrend on fear of more rate hikes and touched multi-year high of 8.06 percent. International oil price, which is rallying on the back of geo-political tensions and supply woes, may continue to remain a near-term concern for India’s trade balance, leading to further erosion in the rupee value. India’s current account deficit (CAD) has been deteriorating since the last fiscal.

 The brewing crisis has seen in a number of emerging market currencies – mostly with deep current account deficits have taken a severe hammering in the recent wave of fear selling