Rupee rebounds 40 paise to close at 74.36 a dollar
Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Thursday staged a smart recovery to end at 74.36 against the US dollar, clocking a gain of 40 paise amid positive sentiments in domestic and global markets.
Weakness in American currency against its key rivals also supported the Indian unit, forex traders said.
At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened at 74.35 against the US dollar and saw an intra-day high of 74.25 and a low of 74.41.
It finally closed at 74.36, registering a rise of 40 paise over its previous close.
On Wednesday, the rupee had plunged by 35 paise to close at its weakest level in over 10 weeks at 74.76.
"Indian rupee gained in line with the other Asian peers. Risk-on sentiments supported the Asian currencies with the dollar falling across the board," said Devarsh Vakil, Deputy Head Retail Research, HDFC Securities.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.22 percent down at 93.20.
On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex closed at 41,340.16, up 724.02 points or 1.78 percent; and the broader NSE Nifty zoomed 211.80 points or 1.78 percent to finish at 12,120.30.
Vakil further said that "domestic equity indices are going to attract fund flows and that will keep check on rupee depreciation for next few sessions.
"We feel Rupee has completed its recent round of depreciation yesterday and is likely to consolidate between 74 to 74.5 range, he added.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth a whopping Rs 5,368.31 crore on Thursday, exchange data showed.
Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.75 percent to USD 40.92 per barrel
"The Indian rupee appreciated against the US currency on Thursday supported by upbeat local equities amid a probability that Democrat Joe Biden could win the US Presidential elections," said Sriram Iyer, Senior Research Analyst at Reliance Securities.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
