Biden maintains lead mid-way through counting of votes, Trump catches up fast
Washington/New York: Democratic candidate Joe Biden has taken a lead over Republican Donald Trump in the closely-fought US presidential election, though the incumbent president is fast catching up, according to projections by leading American media outlets.
As per Fox News, Biden has 237 of the 538 electoral college seats, while Trump has 210. On the other hand, CNN has projected 215 electoral college votes to Biden and 171 to Trump.
The New York Times reported that Biden has earned 213 electoral college votes and Trump 174. The winner needs at least 270 electoral college votes.
As per the latest report, Trump was leading in the key battleground states of Florida, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Biden was leading in Arizona and Minneapolis.
The Biden campaign tried to downplay its electoral performance in Florida, which has 29 electoral college votes.
We said Florida was going to be close and it is! We also said we didn't have to win it, and that remains true, the campaign said in a statement, reiterating that it has multiple paths to victory.
In a surprise, Trump was leading by seven percentage points in Virginia, which was considered to be a Democratic bastion.
Biden won New Jersey and New York in a tight race with President Trump also registering early wins in key states.
Biden got 2.2 million votes in New York while Trump got 1.2 million.
The former vice president won in Democratic-leaning states of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Vermont, and Virginia, while President Trump was posting expected victories in Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, West Virginia, Wyoming, Indiana, and South Carolina, The New York Times said.
People across America were closely watching the 2020 presidential election, which saw a record number of over 100 million early voting due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The usually bustling and crowded Times Square wore an almost deserted look on the election night, as the coronavirus pandemic forced many to stay indoors.
A far cry from the election night of 2016, when supporters of the Democratic and Republican parties, as well as media from around the world, had converged in Times Square, the popular New York City destination was uncrowded and several stores were boarded up and shut.
A small group of people, wearing masks, were seen standing near billboards that displayed the election results. However, the energy and atmosphere seemed subdued. Only a handful of stores in and around Times Square were open and a majority of them were closed and boarded up as businesses took precautionary measures amid fears of possible unrest and violence on the election night.
The NYT also reported that among the biggest states too early to call was Texas, with 38 electoral college votes up for grab.
The most intense attention was on the swing state of Florida and its 29 electoral college votes, the report said, adding that Trump was overperforming his 2016 vote totals in the populous Miami-Dade county, with 526,000-plus votes so far counted in 2020 compared with about 334,000 total four years ago -- an enormous improvement.
Nate Silver from the iconic FiveThirtyEight.com, which had earlier reported a big win for Biden, by late-night said that Trump now is in a better position to win the election.
Trump's in a better position than he was at the start of the night. Biden's not going to win in a landslide. But there's still not a ton we know outside of Florida, and the data we do have is fairly mixed and not necessarily suggestive of as large a polling error elsewhere, it said.
The counting of votes in the crucial US presidential election began on Tuesday night.
The next occupant to the White House needs to win 270 of the 538 electoral college votes.
As results from key battleground states just started trickling in, experts say that Biden has multiple paths to victory, with Trump having very little room to maneuver.
President Trump, who is seeking his re-election for the second consecutive term, in a tweet, expressed confidence in the results.
WE ARE LOOKING REALLY GOOD ALL OVER THE COUNTRY. THANK YOU! Trump tweeted.
He was watching the election results from the White House. He has invited some 250 select guests for an event in the East Room of the White House.
Stay in line, folks tweeted Biden, Stay in line said his running mate Senator Kamala Harris, who is of Indian-origin.
According to experts, North Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania hold key to the election results. Trump needs to win all three of them, while Biden can earn the presidency with a win in any one of these states.
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Rupee rises 6 paise to 89.92 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee witnessed range-bound trade in the morning session on Friday, appreciating by 6 paise to 89.92 against the US dollar as thin liquidity conditions accentuated everyday demand-supply imbalances, keeping the rupee tilted toward weakness.
Forex traders said the USD/INR pair is expected to trade in a narrow range as the 90 level is being protected by the Reserve Bank of India.
Moreover, the support from positive domestic equities was offset by sustained foreign fund outflows.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 89.95 against the US dollar, then gained some ground and touched 89.92, rising by six paise from its previous close.
On Thursday, the rupee depreciated 10 paise to close at 89.98 against the US dollar.
"Unless RBI comes and sells dollars heavily, the movement is going to be in small ranges as seen in the last three sessions. The pair is seen in a holding pattern between 89.80 and 90, considering the narrow range," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
Bhansali further noted that corporate demand, FPI demand, and government demand have been the salient features of the rupee over the past year, during which it fell by more than 5 per cent and became the worst-performing Asian currency, though partly protected by the RBI.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading marginally down by 0.15 per cent at 98.17.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.38 per cent higher at USD 61.08 per barrel in futures trade.
"With early-year liquidity still thin and domestic fundamentals offering a mixed but stable backdrop, the rupee appears set to remain range-bound in the near term. As long as USD/INR stays below the 90 handle, the balance of risks tilts mildly in favour of the rupee," CR Forex Advisors MD Amit Pabari said, adding that against this backdrop, USD/INR is expected to trade in a 89.30–90.20 range.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex climbed 158.19 points to 85,346.79 in early trade, while the Nifty was up 55.8 points to 26,202.35.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,268.60 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.
On the domestic macroeconomic front, gross GST collections rose 6.1 per cent to over Rs 1.74 lakh crore in December 2025, on slow growth in revenues from domestic sales following the sweeping tax cuts, according to government data released on Thursday.
Gross Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenue in December 2024 was over Rs 1.64 lakh crore.
