Rupee spurts 49 paise to close at 75.64; RBI reduces currency market trading timings from today

Mumbai: The Indian rupee surged by 49 paise to 75.64 (provisional) against the US dollar on Tuesday, taking cues from positive equity market sentiment. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 75.92 and gained further ground to touch the day’s high of 75.60. The Indian unit finally settled for the day at 75.64, registering a rise of 49 paise over its previous close. On Friday, the rupee had settled at 76.13 against the US dollar. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has reduced the timing of market hours for call money market, government securities market, currency market from 7 April to 17 April (from 10 am to 2 pm) following the unprecedented situation that has emerged due to the spread of coronavirus. [caption id=“attachment_6221211” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] The forex market was closed on Monday on account of Mahavir Jayanti. Traders said investor sentiments remain fragile amid concerns over the impact of coronavirus outbreak on the domestic as well as the global economy. The number of deaths around the world linked to the new coronavirus has crossed over 74,000. In India, over 4,400 coronavirus cases have been reported so far. Meanwhile, domestic bourses were trading on a positive note on Tuesday with benchmark indices Sensex trading 2,080.77 points higher at 29,671.72 and Nifty up by 597.35 points at 8,681.15. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) remained net sellers in the capital market, as they sold equity shares worth Rs 1,960.97 crore on Friday, according to provisional exchange data. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.54 percent to $33.56 per barrel. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against the basket of six currencies was trading 0.56 percent down at 100.12. The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 75.8276 and for rupee/euro at 82.2168. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 93.8816 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 70.27.