Extending gaining streak for sixth straight session, Indian rupee appreciated against dollar on Monday, on the back of dollar sales by investors. Investors sentiment was supported with the trade ministry’s statement that India's trade deficit narrowed to $9.60 billion in February, dragged down by a fall in gold and oil imports, as compared to $14.73 billion in January. The data showed that in February, merchandise exports rose 2.44 percent from a year earlier to $26.67 billion, while imports were down 5.41 percent to $36.26 billion. Besides, gold imports in February fell 10.81 percent year-on-year to $2.58 billion, compared to $2.90 billion during the same month a year ago. Some support also came with report that overseas investors poured in more than Rs 20,400 crore in the domestic capital market in the first half of March, mainly driven by positive global cues. Besides, weakness of dollar in the overseas market coupled with strong gains in the local equity markets helped the domestic currency rebound.
Finally, the rupee ended at 68.53, 57 paise stronger from its previous close of 69.10 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 68.95 and 68.45 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 68.60 and for Euro stood at 77.78 on March 18, 2019. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 61.50, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 91.11.
