Mangaluru, Udupi receive thundershowers, bring relief from severe heat
Mangaluru/Udupi: Mangaluru city, which had been struggling with intense heat for about a month now, experienced light showers with thunder and lightning on Saturday evening.
The people of the city had been battling against severe heat that had reportedly crossed 40 degrees Celsius and were greatly relieved by the showers that reduced the temperatures by night on Saturday.
While the rural regions of Dakshina Kannada, including Belthangady and Bantwal, are learned to have received showers over the last few days, Mangaluru city had been deprived of rain and only recorded an increase in temperature.
On Saturday evening, the clouds that covered the skies brought relief for the locals in the form of rain, along with thunder and lightning.
In Udupi, the Saturday rain with heavy wind, thunder and lightning gave signs of pre-monsoon showers setting foot in the coastal regions.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has given safety guidelines for people to follow especially during thunder and lightning.
The NDMA has advised people to avoid getting out of their houses during heavy showers and necessarily keep a watch on the weather forecast before doing so. Farmers have been advised not to attend to work in the fields or take cattle out for grazing. Fishermen have also been told not to go fishing and avoid taking their boats out into the sea.
Under circumstances of lightning, stay away from constructions with metal sheets as roof and from water bodies like lakes, streams and rivers. Keep away from power lines and poles, telephone lines, mobile towers, and also railway lines, the NDMA has told the people.
Udupi Deputy Commissioner Swaroopa TK, who is also Chairperson of the District Disaster Management Authority, in a special statement, has asked people to contact on toll-free number 1077 or phone number 0820-2574802 in case of emergency.
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Rupee falls 20 paise to 95.43 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 20 paise to 95.43 against US dollar in early trade on Tuesday as market sentiments remained fragile after renewed military exchanges between US and Iranian forces in the Gulf region.
Forex traders said investor anxiety due to instability in the Gulf is causing massive capital flight into safe-haven assets, with the US dollar acting as the primary beneficiary.
Moreover, Brent oil prices is hovering near USD 113 per barrel, maintaining pressure on oil-importing economies like India.
At the interbank foreign exchange market the rupee opened at 95.30 then lost ground to touch 95.43 against the US dollar, in initial trade, registering a fall of 20 paise over its previous close.
Rupee fell 39 paise to close at an all-time low of 95.23 against the US dollar on Monday.
"With oil boiling rupee on Monday fell to a closing low of 95.0875 and this morning the opening was still lower as it becomes more and more vulnerable when dollar index rises due to safe-haven buying and oil prices rise due to the continuous fighting in the Gulf Region," Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director, Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP, said.
The higher oil prices will keep rupee sold off against the dollar as oil companies and FPIs intensify dollar buying, Bhansali added.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 98.51, up 0.15 per cent.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading lower by 1.07 per cent at USD 113.22 per barrel in futures trade.
"Market sentiments remained fragile after renewed military exchanges between US and Iranian forces when Iranian forces launched fresh attacks in the Gulf as both sides sought to assert control over the strategic waterway," Bhansali said.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex declined 361.62 points to 76,907.78 in early trade, while the Nifty dropped 134.90 points to 23,980.60.
Foreign Institutional Investors purchased equities worth Rs 2,835.62 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
