Reversing previous session’s losses, Indian rupee staged a smart recovery against dollar on Friday, aided by foreign fund inflows amid a weak dollar globally and sharp fall in crude oil prices. Traders took encouragement with a private report stating that India has been getting more foreign investment than China. In 2018, India saw more than $38 billion of inbound deals compared with China’s $32 billion, buoyed by stable fundamentals. The markets participants paid no heed towards report that India’s fiscal deficit exceeded to Rs 7.17 lakh crore and touched 114.8% of the Budget Estimate (BE) of Rs 6.24 lakh crore at the end of November on account of lower revenue collections. At the end of November 2017, it was 112% of the BE. Besides, weakness of dollar in the overseas market coupled with strong gains in the local equity markets helped the domestic currency rebound. On the global front, Japanese yen gained half a per cent against the dollar on Friday as investors cut back positions in risky assets after a volatile week in global stock markets and as concerns grow about a trade dispute between United States and China.
Finally, the rupee ended at 69.95, 40 paise stronger from its previous close of 70.35 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 70.12 and 69.89 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 69.97 and for Euro stood at 80.18 on December 28, 2018. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 63.28, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 88.65.
