Rupee Rises 30 Paise To Settle At 74.36 Against Dollar Amid Strong Rally In Domestic Equities

The rupee gained 30 paise against the US dollar on Wednesday, April 28, to settle at 74.36 (provisional), extending its gains for the third straight session tracking a strong rally today in domestic equities. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the domestic unit opened at 74.49 against the American currency and registered an intra-day high of 74.29. It witnessed a low of 74.50. In an early trade session, the local unit gained 21 paise to 74.45 against the greenback. The rupee closed at 74.36 against the dollar, recording a gain of 30 paise over its previous closing.

On Tuesday, April 27, the local unit settled at 74.66 against the dollar. Today, the rupee registered its third straight session of gain, appreciating by 65 paise. Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, climbed 0.14 per cent to 91.03.

“It is an eventful day, with Fed policy and Biden’s session of Congress. Ahead of both these events, dollar index is showing tentative signs of recovering, however, FII inflows into local stocks are weighing on USDINR spot,” said Mr. Rahul Gupta, Head Of Research- Currency, Emkay Global Financial Services. 

”Technically, USDINR spot has formed a descending channel, and if tonight’s Fed message isn’t as hawkish as the market is expecting then we may see a further drop in spot. 74.25 is the immediate support, until the spot remains afloat we may see prices moving towards 75 zone amid a severe covid situation,” he added.

”The rupee’s rapid depreciation from 73 to 75 has slowed, reducing the need for RBI intervention in the market. The economic situation has deteriorated, at least in the short term, as the covid-19 cases have impacted employment and development. In these conditions, the Central Bank will accept any gradual weakening of the rupee before it reaches the 75.50 mark,” said Kshitij Purohit, Lead International & Commodities at CapitalVia Global Research Limited.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 789.70 points or 1.61 per cent higher at 49,733.84, while the broader NSE Nifty climbed 211.50 points or 1.44 per cent to 14,864.55.
 

What analysts say

“Market sentiment has been boosted by a set of strong results and continuing strong momentum in global markets, which has over-shadowed concerns over economic activity arising from renewed lockdowns and the second wave of COVID-19 infections,” said Mr. S Hariharan, Head – Sales Trading, Emkay Global Financial Services

”Metals and banking sectors in particular have seen renewed long open interest build-up, while IT sector has lagged in a case of rotation of positioning. Mid-cap out-performance, which is a theme that has been in play for the last 6 months, continues to play out. Barring any further widespread impact of covid infections and resultant lockdowns in tier-2 and tier-3 cities, Nifty can be expected to trade towards its life high in May,” added Mr Hariharan.

“The benchmark indices extended gains following a stellar intraday rally with the Nifty/ Sensex closing 211 /789 points higher. Today, the market opened on a strong note and maintained the strong momentum throughout the day following robust buying in banking and financial stocks,” said Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President, Equity Technical Research at Kotak Securities.

”After a long time the index managed to closed above 50 day SMA mark which is broadly positive for the market. However, intraday chart suggest, market is overstretch and it may take a temporary pause near 14925/ 50100 levels. We are of the view that, the larger texture of the market is positive and ideal strategy should be to buy on dips rather than chasing Nifty at higher levels,” he added.

According to the exchange data, the foreign institutional investors were net sellers in the capital market on April 27 as they sold shares worth Rs 1,454.75 crore. Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.18 per cent to $ 66.54 per barrel.