Indian rupee strengthened against the US dollar on Tuesday, tracking firm domestic equities after encouraging data from the trial of a vaccine for corona virus boosted investor sentiment world over. Market sentiments were also encouraged by comments from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell over the weekend on a gradual economic recovery and his affirmation that more monetary stimulus was on the way if required. Further, weakening American currency also supported the domestic unit. Though, some positive sentiments were capped by announcement of extension of nationwide corona virus lockdown for another two more weeks with the fourth phase providing more relaxations outside the containment zones. Meanwhile, Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) offloaded equity shares worth Rs 2,512.82 crore on Monday, exchange data showed.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 75.67, stronger by 24 paise from its previous close of 75.91 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 75.79 and 75.6525 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 75.56 and for Euro stood at 81.65 on May 15, 2020. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 70.48, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 92.26.
