Rupee falls 9 paise to close at all-time low of 83.33 against US dollar
Mumbai, Nov 1: The rupee depreciated 9 paise to close at an all-time low of 83.33 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday, tracking a strong greenback against major rivals overseas and unabated foreign capital outflows.
Besides, a negative trend in domestic equities and elevated crude oil prices amid geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East weighed on investor sentiments, according to forex traders.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 83.26 against the dollar. During the trading session, it touched an intra-day low of 83.35 and a high of 83.26 against the American currency.
The local unit finally settled at its lifetime low of 83.33 (provisional), lower by 9 paise against its previous close.
On Tuesday, the rupee settled at 83.24 against the American currency.
"We expect the rupee to trade with a slight negative bias on the strong Dollar amid geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East. Weak tone in domestic markets may also weigh on the rupee.
"Traders may take cues from manufacturing PMI from India and ADP non-farm employment, JOLTS job opening and ISM manufacturing PMI data from the US. Investors may remain cautious ahead of the FOMC meeting tonight. USD/INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 83-83.60," said Anuj Choudhary - Research Analyst at Sharekhan by BNP Paribas.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.20 per cent higher at 106.87.
Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures advanced 1.34 per cent to USD 86.16 per barrel.
On the domestic equity market front, BSE Sensex was trading 283.60 points or 0.44 per cent lower at 63,591.33, while the broader NSE Nifty declined 90.45 points or 0.47 per cent to 18,989.15.
Forex traders said disappointing macroeconomic data from India and FII outflows further pressurised the rupee.
On the domestic macroeconomic data, the seasonally adjusted S&P Global India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) slipped from 57.5 in September to 55.5 in October, the slowest rate of expansion since February.
Foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on Tuesday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 696.02 crore, according to exchange data.
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India willing to cut 100% tariffs; trade deal with New Delhi soon: Trump
New York (PTI): India is willing to cut 100 per cent tariffs on American goods, US President Donald Trump claimed once again while saying that a trade deal between New Delhi and Washington is coming soon.
In an interview to Fox News, Trump, however, said that he is not in a "rush" for the proposed trade deal.
Against the backdrop of the US president's repeated claim of India offering to drop all tariffs on American goods, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in New Delhi on Thursday that "any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial".
Trump again described India as "one of the highest tariff nations in the world."
"They make it almost impossible to do business. Do you know that they're willing to cut 100 per cent of their tariffs for the United States?" Trump said.
When asked if the deal with India is coming soon, Trump said, "that'll come soon. I'm in no rush. Look, everybody wants to make a deal with us."
Then he went on to add: "South Korea wants to make a deal but I'm not going to make deals with everybody. I'm just going to set the limit. I'll make another some deals. Because I can't, you can't meet with that many people. I've got 150 countries that want to make deals."
India and the US are holding talks to firm up a trade deal.
On Thursday, Jaishankar said trade talks have been going on between India and the US.
"These are complicated negotiations. Nothing is decided till everything is. Any trade deal has to be mutually beneficial; it has to work for both countries," he said.
"That would be our expectation from the trade deal."
Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal is currently in Washington to assess the progress of negotiations for the proposed trade agreement.
He is expected to hold talks with US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and US Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer.
To boost bilateral trade, India is seeking duty concessions for labour-intensive sectors like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather goods, garments, plastics, chemicals, shrimp, oil seeds, chemicals, grapes, and bananas in the proposed pact with America.
On the other hand, the US wants duty concessions in sectors like certain industrial goods, automobiles (electric vehicles in particular), wines, petrochemical products, dairy, agriculture items such as apples, and tree nuts.
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