INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
paise higher at 69.68 against US dollar Monday following dovish stance by Federal Reserve and rising hopes of a thaw in ongoing US-China
Besides, smart gains in domestic equities and weakening of greenback in overseas markets propped up currency
This was second straight session of gain for domestic unit
It had risen by 48 paise to settle at 69.72 against US dollar on Friday.At Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) Monday, rupee opened on a firm
It gained further to hit a high of 69.23 following dollar selling by exporters, before finally closing at 69.68, up 4 paise.Traders mainly
attributed rupee firmness to sustained selling of American currency by exporters following US Fed chief Jerome Powell''s hints that
central bank will apply brakes on its tightening of monetary policy this year."Clearly, Fed is at tail end of a rate hiking regime and a
move towards neutral policy will be welcome for financial markets in 2019
Positive sentiments reverberated across US and Asian markets," said Sunil Sharma, Chief Investment Officer, Sanctum Wealth
Management.Globally, sentiments were high after two major super economies US and China expressed interest in settling their tariff war
Envoys of both nations will have discussions during meetings on Monday and Tuesday.Meanwhile, dollar index dropped by 0.25 per cent to 95.93
against a basket of six currencies in late afternoon trade.The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set reference rate for
rupee/dollar at 69.4814 and for rupee/euro at 79.3890
The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 88.5943 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 64.21.Meanwhile, brent crude, global
benchmark, was trading at $58.46 per barrel, up 2.45 per cent."Brent prices shot up as working oil rigs in US fell for first time in three
weeks signaling slowing production in US
This likely led to bullish sentiments pulling back a bit in late afternoon," Mr Sharma added.Foreign funds pulled out Rs 157.72 crore from
capital markets on a net basis, while domestic institutional investors purchased shares worth Rs 240.60 crore Friday, provisional data
