Biden should not 'wrongfully' claim President's office: Trump
Washington: US President Donald Trump has warned his Democratic challenger Joe Biden against “wrongfully" claiming the presidency.
"Joe Biden should not wrongfully claim the office of the President. I could make that claim also. Legal proceedings are just now beginning! Trump said in a tweet Friday.
As the counting of votes in key battleground states continued, Trump did not make a public appearance but remained active on Twitter.
As per the latest projections, Biden has 264 electoral college votes and Trump trails behind with 213. Biden, 77, was leading in four of the five key battleground states where counting of ballots was still going on. Trump was trailing behind Biden in Arizona (by 38,455 votes), Georgia (4,224), Nevada (22,657) and Pennsylvania (19,500) but leading in North Carolina with 76,587 votes.
To be declared the winner of the US election, either of the two candidates needs at least 270 of the 538 electoral college votes.
Trump has challenged the authenticity of the elections, alleging massive voters fraud and electoral malpractice. In another tweet, he said his leads in all of these states were significant on election night but suddenly started vanishing. He asserted that the lead would come back once the legal proceedings move forward.
"I had such a big lead in all of these states late into election night, only to see the leads miraculously disappear as the days went by. Perhaps these leads will return as our legal proceedings move forward! Trump said.
Earlier in the day, he said that "with the attack by the Radical Left Dems on the Republican Senate, the Presidency becomes even more important!".
Biden, who was expected to make an address to the nation in primetime, did not tweet or make a public statement on Friday. There were no public remarks either from his running mate Senator Kamala Harris.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday called Biden president-elect.
"President-Elect Biden has a strong mandate to lead, and he'll have a strong Democratic House with him and many Democrats in the Senate. This has been a life or death fight for the fate of our democracy, as he says, the soul of our country.' We did not win every battle in the House, but we did win the war, she said.
Pelosi said Biden is a unifier. She said, He is determined to bring people together because he respects all points of view. And as he has said, I ran as a Democrat; I'll govern as President for all of the people, whether they voted for me or not.'"
It is clear that the Biden-Harris ticket will win the White House. His election is historic, propelled by the biggest vote ever in the history of our country, 73.8 million and counting Americans, the most votes ever received by any presidential ticket in history, Pelosi said.
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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.
