Rupee jumps 50 paise to 72.50 against USD on easing crude prices
Mumbai, Nov 9: The rupee rose by 50 paise to end at 72.50 per US dollar Friday on increased selling of the greenback by exporters amid softening crude oil prices, which slipped below the USD 70 per barrel mark.
The dollar weakened following the US midterm election results, which showed Democrats wresting control of the House of Representatives from the ruling Republican party.
However, it later staged a recovery after the US Fed kept interest rates unchanged but indicated a hike next month.
Forex traders said the rupee's rise was supported by dollar-selling by exporters and banks, and the greenback's weakness against some currencies overseas.
At the Interbank Foreign Exchange (forex) market, the rupee opened on a firm note at 72.68 from Tuesday's close of 73.
It climbed to a high of 72.45, driven by dollar selling by exporters, but ceded some ground to finally end at 72.50, up 50 paise over its last close.
The rupee had rebounded by 12 paise to end at 73 per US dollar Tuesday. In the last two trading sessions, the rupee has gained 62 paise.
The forex market was closed on Wednesday and Thursday on account of 'Diwali' and 'Diwali Balipratipada' respectively.
Globally, Brent crude, the international benchmark, slipped below the USD 70 per barrel mark Friday before a weekend meeting of major oil producing nations in Abu Dhabi.
Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs), which had been selling on the Indian bourses, made fresh purchases worth Rs 31.02 crore Wednesday, as per provisional data.
The Financial Benchmark India Private Ltd (FBIL) set the reference rate for the rupee/dollar at 72.7347 and for rupee/euro at 82.5195. The reference rate for rupee/British pound was fixed at 94.8737 and for rupee/100 Japanese yen at 63.84.
Meanwhile, domestic benchmark indices ended on a negative note after a choppy session Friday.
The 30-share Sensex fell 79.13 points, or 0.22 per cent, to close at 35,158.55, while the broader NSE Nifty slipped 13.20 points, or 0.12 per cent, to 10,585.20.
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Cong says LoPs not invited to Putin banquet, takes swipe at Tharoor for accepting invite
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Friday said Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have not been invited to the banquet for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and took a swipe at its own MP Shashi Tharoor for accepting the invite.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "There has been speculation whether the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha have been invited for tonight's official dinner in honour of President Putin. The two LoPs have not been invited."
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera accused the government of breaking protocols daily and not believing in democratic principles.
"There is no invite to both the LoPs, Mr (Mallikarjun) Kharge and Mr (Rahul) Gandhi. This comes as a surprise but I don't think we should be surprised. This government is known to be breaching all protocols. What else to say, ask the government," he told PTI Videos on the sidelines of an event.
Asked about party MP Tharoor getting invited to the banquet and accepting the invitation, Khera said, "Ask Mr. Tharoor. All of us who are in the party, if our leaders don't get invited and we get invited, we need to question our own conscience and listen to our conscience. Politics has been played in inviting or not inviting people, which in itself is questionable and those who accept such an invite is also questionable," Khera said.
"We would have listened to our voice of conscience," he added.
Earlier, Tharoor said there was a time when the chairman of the external affairs committee was routinely invited but that practice seems to have stopped from some years.
"It has been resumed ...I have been invited, yes. I will definitely go," the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs said.
On the LoPs reportedly not getting an invite, Tharoor said, "I don't know on what basis invitations were sent. I think the custom that usually used to be followed was for a wide representation. Certainly, I remember in the olden days, they used to invite not only the LoPs, (but) various other cross section of representatives of different parties. It conveys a good impression."
"I dont know the basis (of invitation), this is all done by the government, by the protocol by the Rashtrapati Bhawan, what do I know. All I can say I have honoured to have been invited. Of course I will go," Tharoor told reporters in the Parliament House complex.
Gandhi on Thursday had alleged that the government tells visiting foreign dignitaries not to meet the Leader of the Opposition due to its "insecurity".
His remarks had come hours ahead of Putin's two-day visit to India.
Gandhi had said it is a tradition that visiting foreign dignitaries meet the LoP but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of External Affairs were not following this norm.
"Normally the tradition is that those who come from abroad have a meeting with the LoP. This used to happen during (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee ji's time, Manmohan Singh ji's time, it has been a tradition but what happens these days is that when foreign dignitaries come and when I go abroad, the government suggests to them to not meet the LoP," Gandhi had told reporters in Parliament House complex.
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