Indian rupee erased most of its initial gains but managed to end marginally higher against dollar on Thursday, owing to dollar sale by exporters and banks. Traders took some support with the private report stating that a second stimulus package India is poised to announce in coming days will be worth around Rs 1 lakh crore ($13 billion) and focus on help for small and medium businesses weathering the coronavirus outbreak. Positive trend in local equity markets also supported the domestic unit. However, gains remain capped as cautiousness remained among traders with UN report stating that India's GDP growth for the current fiscal is expected to slow down to 4.8 per cent, warning that the COVID-19 pandemic is expected to result in significant adverse economic impacts globally. On the global front, Euro gained against dollar Thursday on hopes the coronavirus pandemic was close to peaking, with investor attention also focused on a meeting of European Union finance ministers to discuss an economic rescue package.
Finally, the rupee ended at 76.28, 6 paise stronger from its previous close of 76.34 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 76.55 and 76.11 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 76.08 and for Euro stood at 82.46 on April 8, 2020. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 69.88, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 93.57.
