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Rupee Falls For Sixth Straight Session Against Dollar

Dollar vs rupee exchange rate: Monday's intraday low of 66.46 is a level last seen in March 2017
Dollar vs rupee exchange rate: Monday's intraday low of 66.46 is a level last seen in March 2017

The rupee (INR) shed 36 paise against the US dollar (USD) to close at 66.48 on Monday, a fresh one-year low. With that, the rupee extended losses against the greenback for a sixth straight session. On April 13, the Indian currency had closed at 65.20. Since then, it has weakened for six sessions in a row. The rupee had last closed below 66.48 on March 10, 2017, when it had settled at 66.60 against the greenback.

Here are 10 things to know about rupee vs US dollar (INR vs USD) exchange rate on Monday:

1. The rupee traded in the range of 66.49-66.14 against the US currency during the session.

2. Sustained demand for the American currency from importers and dollar strength against other currencies overseas, bolstered by rising US bond yields, weighed on the domestic unit, according to forex dealers.

3. "We are expecting the Rupee /Dollar to be range between 65.50 - 66.50 in the near term and be range-bound between 65.90- 66.50 this week," Salil Datar, CEO and executive director, Essel Finance VKC Forex, told NDTV.

4. On Friday, the rupee had closed at a 13-month low of 66.12 against the US currency. On a net basis, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 21.02 crore on that day, provisional data showed.

5. India's foreign exchange reserves rose to a life-time high of $424.864 billion in the first week of April, aided by increase in foreign currency assets, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data showed.

6. Headwinds in the form of widening trade deficit due to surging crude oil prices accompanied by portfolio outflows, amid unsupportive global factors, have weighed on the local currency in the last few trading sessions.

7. Merchandise exports fell for the first time in five months last month. Merchandise exports in March fell 0.7 per cent year-on-year to $29.1 billion, and the trade deficit widened to $13.7 billion due to a surge in imports, government data showed earlier this month.

8. The central bank has outlined higher growth expectations for the new fiscal citing strong revival in investment activity and also lowered its inflation forecast. However, it has kept key policy rate unchanged for the fourth consecutive time since August.

9. The stock markets ended marginally higher, with the BSE Sensex ending 35 points higher at 34,450 while the NSE Nifty settling 20 points higher at 10,584. 

10. The RBI may intervene in the forex market to halt rapid depreciation of the rupee and could reinfuse liquidity, IFA Global adds.

(With agency inputs)