Rupee breaches 94-level against US dollar intraday; ends flat
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee breached the 94-level against the US dollar for the first time on Monday, before closing flat at 93.53, amid a correction in global crude prices.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the local unit opened at 93.84 and breached the 94-mark against the US dollar for the first time in intraday trade. However, the unit recovered all lost ground to settle unchanged at 93.53.
The rupee went past the 93-mark against the greenback on Friday after crashing 64 paise to settle at 93.53.
"The rupee hit fresh all-time lows on Friday and breached the 94-mark for the first time amid escalating geopolitical tensions in West Asia and weak domestic markets. Surge in crude oil prices and FII outflows, too, weighed on the rupee," Anuj Choudhary, Research Analyst, Mirae Asset ShareKhan, said.
"We expect the rupee to trade with a negative bias as deteriorating global sentiments and geopolitical tensions may keep the rupee under pressure. However, time-to-time intervention by the Reserve Bank may support the rupee at lower levels," he said, adding that the USD-INR spot price is expected to trade in a range of Rs 93.60-94.40.
The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.14 per cent higher at 99.78.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 1.11 per cent lower at USD 113.4 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the Sensex crashed 1,836.57 points, or 2.46 per cent, to 72,696.39, while Nifty slumped 484.30 points, or 2.10 per cent, to 22,630.20.
Foreign institutional investors sold equities worth Rs 10,414.23 crore on a net basis on Monday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, India's forex reserves dropped USD 7.052 billion to USD 709.759 billion during the week ended March 13, the RBI said on Friday.
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Different communities living in harmony in Assam as BJP is in power: Himanta
Dhemaji/Majuli/Sadiya (PTI): Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said different communities were living in harmony as the BJP was in power in the state.
Addressing back-to-back election rallies in Dhemaji, Majuli, Naoboicha and Sadiya, he accused the Congress of working only for 'Bangladeshi-Miyas', while ignoring the welfare of the indigenous population.
"We want to work for the people living in Assam -- the Assamese, Bengali and Hindi speaking people, Gorkhas, tribals, all communities. All the communities are in harmony because the BJP is in power," he said.
Sarma alleged that the Congress appeased 'Bangladeshi Miyas' when it was in power, while the BJP is working for the welfare of the indigenous community.
"You can see for yourself now that after the BJP came to power, the Bangladeshi-Miyas have been cut to size. During this term, we broke the hands and legs of the Bangladeshi-Miyas politically; next time we will break their backbone so that they cannot live peacefully in Assam," he said.
'Miya' is originally a pejorative term used for Bengali-speaking Muslims in Assam, and they are usually identified as immigrants from what is now Bangladesh. In recent years, activists from the community have started adopting the term as a gesture of defiance.
Sarma claimed that he is the first chief minister to have visited the river-island of Majuli at least 15 times.
"Development of Majuli started in 2016, when the BJP came to power in the state. Congress did not want to come here as they didn't want to solve the problems," he said.
The CM also took a jibe at the Congress's election slogan of 'Natun Bor Asom' (new greater Assam).
"We want our 'Bor Asom' on the ideals of Sankardev and Chaolung Sukapha, not a 'Natun Bor Asom' of Bangladeshi-Miyas," he said.
Elections for the 126-member assembly will be held on April 9, with counting of votes scheduled on May 4.
