Mangaluru: Low wind speed, light showers dampen spirit of kite festival at Tannirbavi beach
Mangaluru: Participants on the second day of the 8th Mangaluru International Kite Festival at Tannirbavi beach was greatly disappointed, as the unexpected change in weather on Sunday afternoon played spoilsport.
Although the sky was clear and the wind was favourable at the venue from the inaugural session on Saturday till Sunday afternoon, the weather started changing past 3 pm. Clouds started covering the sky and there were also light showers, forcing the participants to withdraw.
Daniel, a member of the French kite flying team, said that he had participated in kite festivals in various countries, including India, and expressed his delight at his experience in Mangaluru. “I really liked the atmosphere and hospitality in Mangaluru. The wind speed was good on the first day, but this evening, the wind speed was affected by the cloudy weather. The wind speed required for kite-flying, which is 10 to 14 kmph, was not there at the venue,” he explained on Sunday.
He added that, the watchers too enjoyed being a part of the kite festival in spite of the hurdles due to weather change.
The kite festival was organized on Saturday and Sunday by Team Mangaluru, an amateur kite-fliers’ group in coordination with ONGC-MRPL as a part of the ‘Karavali Utsava’. Dakshina Kannada District In-charge Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao inaugurated the event at the Tannirbavi beach on Saturday.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Rupee strengthens past 90/USD level in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee appreciated 24 paise to 89.96 against the US dollar in early trade on Friday, supported by corporate dollar inflows and easing crude oil prices.
Forex traders said the gain in the USD/INR pair follows the rupee’s string of record lows in recent weeks on likely intervention from the Reserve Bank of India.
Moreover, crude oil prices hovering around USD 59 per barrel level supported market sentiment.
ALSO READ:Rupee trades in narrow range against US dollar in early trade
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 90.19 against the US dollar, then gained some ground and touched 89.96 against the US dollar, registering a gain of 24 paise over its previous close.
In initial trade it also touched 90.22 against the American currency. On Thursday, the rupee appreciated 18 paise against the US dollar to close at 90.20 against the greenback.
The rupee sank to a fresh record low, breaching the 91-a-dollar mark for the first time on Tuesday.
"Since the speculators are out of the market the buying of US dollar syndrome has come down a bit though intra-day we could see spikes," said Anil Kumar Bhansali Head of Treasury and Executive Director Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
The US CPI came lower than expected but was also due to non-collection of sufficient data and therefore, the next month’s CPI becomes more important, Bhansali said, adding that "Rupee remains in a range of 90-90.50".
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.04 per cent higher at 98.46.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 0.27 per cent at USD 59.66 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex climbed 375.98 points to 84,857.79, while the Nifty was up 110.60 points to 25,934.15.
Foreign Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 595.78 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
Meanwhile, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal on Thursday said he is not concerned about the rupee at all, arguing that even China and Japan witnessed exchange rate weaknesses during their high growth phases.
Speaking at 'Times Network's India Economic Conclave 2025', Sanyal said since the 90s, the rupee has mostly been allowed to find its own level, but the RBI uses its reserves to intervene in either direction to stop excessive volatility.
"I am not concerned about the rupee at all... Let me say that the rupee and its current weakness should not be necessarily conflated with some economic worry, because historically, if you go over time, you will see that economies that are in their high growth phase very often go through a phase of exchange rate weakness," he said.
