The rupee gained some strength against the dollar on Thursday. At the days highest point, the rupee touched 71.05 against the greenback, marking a gain of 19 paise against the American currency. Weakness in the dollar overseas along with mild gains in the domestic equity markets supported the rupee, say analysts. A higher closing for the rupee against the dollar on Thursday would break a fall of 0.4 per cent – or 27 paise – registered in the past two sessions.Here are five things to know about movement in the rupee against the dollar today (rupee vs dollar):
- The rupee opened higher at 71.14 against the dollar on Thursday, and moved in a range of 71.26-71.05 during the session.
- It was last seen trading at 71.09 against the dollar in late afternoon deals.
- Domestic stock markets rose as much as 0.6 per cent in intraday trade but pared gains as caution prevailed ahead of expiry of monthly derivatives contracts.
- Analysts awaited key macroeconomic data due later in the day.
- The government is due to release GDP data for the quarter ended December 31, 2018 and infrastructure output for January in the evening.
- The median forecast from more than 55 economists polled on February 19-25 was for GDP growth of 6.9 per cent, compared with 7.1 per cent in July-September, news agency Reuters reported.
- If the projection comes true, it would mark the slowest pace of growth in GDP registered since the second quarter of financial year 2017 -18.
- Weakness in crude oil prices also supported the rupee, say analysts.
- Crude oil prices fell on Thursday in anticipation of tightening supply going forward. Brent crude futures – the international benchmark for crude oil – were last seen trading 0.5 per cent lower at $66.04 per barrel.
- [“source-ndtv”]