Indian rupee gained ground against dollar and ended higher on Thursday, on persistent selling of the American currency by exporters. Traders took encouragement as the union cabinet cleared Rs 3 lakh crore micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) funding scheme to mitigate the economic distress being faced by the small businesses in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, good going in the local equity markets gave the uptrend some momentum. However, further up-move got restricted as domestic rating agency ICRA warned of a deep recession as it drastically lowered FY21 growth forecast for India to minus 5 percent, citing the very modest fiscal support, extension of the nationwide lockdown and looming labour shortage. On the global front, dollar edged higher on Thursday as Sino-U.S. tensions and weak economic indicators in Europe dented sentiment after hopes of a quick economic recovery and further stimulus fuelled an overnight rally on Wall Street.
Finally, the rupee ended at 75.61, 19 paise stronger from its previous close of 75.80 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 75.82 and 75.61 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 75.67 and for Euro stood at 82.80 on May 20, 2020. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 70.21, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 92.64.
