Rupee falls 8 paise to 88.67 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee weakened 8 paise to 88.67 against the US dollar in early trade on Tuesday as equity market faced selling pressure amid global trade related uncertainties.
A weak American currency, lower crude oil prices and some inflow of foreign capital into domestic stocks failed to support the Indian currency, forex analysts said.
They said investors are concerned about increasing import bills and widening trade deficit of the country. Also, traders were keenly watching the progress on the proposed India-US trade deal as well as the domestic PMI data to be released later this week.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 88.67 and slipped to 88.69 level before inching up to 88.68 against the greenback in initial deals, registering a loss of 8 paise from its previous closing level.
On Monday, the rupee settled 7 paise higher at 88.59 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 99.43.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.47 per cent lower at USD 63.90 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, Sensex declined 151.86 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 84,799.09 in early trade, while the Nifty went down 44.50 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 25,967.30.
Foreign institutional investors bought equities worth Rs 442.17 crore on Monday, according to exchange data.
The latest government data released on Monday showed India's exports contracted 11.8 per cent to USD 34.38 billion in October on account of the impact of high tariffs by the US, while the trade deficit widened to a record high of USD 41.68 billion, mainly due to a jump in gold imports.
The country's imports jumped 16.63 per cent to USD 76.06 billion due to high inbound shipments of the yellow metal, silver, cotton raw/waste, fertiliser, and sulphur.
In September, the trade gap widened to USD 31.15 billion, the highest in over a year.
While gold imports rose about 200 per cent to USD 14.72 billion, silver rose 528.71 per cent to USD 2.71 billion during October.
Crude oil imports dipped to USD 14.8 billion in October from USD 18.9 billion in the same month last year.
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Trump’s fresh threat to bomb Iran amid reports of deal to end war
Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump on Wednesday threatened Iran with more bombing if it doesn't reopen the Strait of Hormuz, amid a report that the warring sides were nearing an agreement to end the war.
US media outlet Axios reported, quoting US officials and two other sources, that the US and Iran were getting close to a one-page memorandum of understanding to end the war and set a framework for more detailed nuclear negotiations.
The US expects Iranian responses on several key points over the next 48 hours, Axios reported, adding that nothing has been agreed yet. This was the closest the parties had been to an agreement since the war began.
"Assuming Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to, which is, perhaps, a big assumption, the already legendary Epic Fury will be at an end, and the highly effective Blockade will allow the Hormuz Strait to be OPEN TO ALL, including Iran," Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
"If they don’t agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before," Trump said.
According to Axios, the deal would involve Iran committing to a moratorium on nuclear enrichment, the US agreeing to lift its sanctions and release billions in frozen Iranian funds, and both sides lifting restrictions around transit through the Strait of Hormuz.
It said many of the terms laid out in the memo would be contingent on a final agreement being reached, leaving the possibility of renewed war or an extended limbo in which the hot war has stopped, but nothing is truly resolved.
