Indian rupee ended marginally lower on Tuesday on overnight jump in crude oil prices and a surge in commodity prices. Traders remained cautious with a report by SBI Research, released just days before the government is set to publish the official data, stating that the Indian economy is expected to grow at 7.0-7.1 per cent in the April-June period, the first quarter of 2024-25. This growth forecast comes with a downward bias. Some concern also came with a private report stating that the newly-announced Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) is expected to shoot up the fiscal deficit by 15 basis points (bps) to 5.1 per cent from the budgeted 4.9 per cent in the financial year 2025 (FY25). However, losses remained capped as exchange data showed Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were net buyers in the capital markets on Monday, as they purchased shares worth Rs 483.36 crore. On the global front, the dollar and yen eased on Tuesday, paring some of their safe-haven gains from the start of the week in the wake of a major missile exchange between Israel and Hezbollah that stoked fears of a wider escalation.
Finally, the rupee ended at 83.92 (Provisional), weaker by 5 paisa from its previous close of 83.87 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 83.95 and 83.91 respectively.
