Indian rupee gave up all of its initial losses and managed to end marginally higher against dollar on Tuesday, on persistent selling of the American currency by exporters. Traders took encouragement with report that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has underlined that the lockdown has yielded positive results as the country has managed to save thousands of lives in the past one and a half months. Healthy gains in domestic equities and weakening of the greenback in overseas markets also supported the Indian currency. However, gains remain capped as CRISIL, domestic rating agency, has nearly halved its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) forecast for India to 1.8 percent for FY21 while projecting total losses of Rs 10 lakh crore or Rs 7,000 per person due to disastrous lockdowns to control COVID-19 pandemic. It warned lockdowns are showing a disastrous impact on the economy and could lead to a permanent loss of GDP, unemployment and poverty, despite relief packages. On the global front, dollar steadied on Tuesday as currency markets entered a holding pattern ahead of US Federal Reserve and European Central Bank meetings later this week and as a fresh tumble in oil prices cautioned against risk taking.
Finally, the rupee ended at 76.18, 7 paise stronger from its previous close of 76.25 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 76.44 and 76.14 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 76.126 and for Euro stood at 82.62 on April 27, 2020. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 71.03, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 94.73.
