Indian rupee ended higher against dollar on Tuesday amid selling in American currency by banks and exporters. Traders took support with Minister for MSMEs and road transport and highways Nitin Gadkari’s statement that the recent steps announced by the government to boost liquidity and credit flows would also bolster the purchasing power of the people via employment creation and help accelerate the wheels of the economy. Positive trend in domestic equities and weakening American currency also supported the local unit. Traders overlooked a private report stating that American brokerage Goldman Sachs expects the Indian economy to contract by 5 per cent in FY21, making it the worst performance by the country ever. On the global front, dollar nursed losses against major currencies on Tuesday, after encouraging data from the trial of a vaccine for COVID-19 reduced safe-haven demand for the greenback.
Finally, the rupee ended at 75.66, 25 paise stronger from its previous close of 75.91 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 75.79 and 75.63 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 75.93 and for Euro stood at 82.19 on May 18, 2020. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 70.84, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 91.95.
