The rupee started the 2022-23 financial year on an upbeat note, trading 19 paise higher at 75.55 (prelim) against the US dollar on Monday, helped by a firm trend in domestic equities.
On the interbank FX market, the local unit opened at 75.77 against the greenback, seeing daily highs of 75.42 and lows of 75.79.
It finally closed at 75.55, up 19 paise from its previous close.
On Thursday, the last trading session of FY22, the rupee was up 16 paise to close at 75.74.
However, the local unit ended the 2021-22 fiscal year with overall losses of 3.61% or 264 paises against the US currency due to a stronger dollar and rising crude oil prices.
The foreign exchange market was closed for the banks’ annual accounts on Friday.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the dollar’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.12% to 98.75.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 1.07% to $103.27 a barrel.
On the domestic stock market front, the BSE Sensex closed up 1,335.05 points, or 2.25%, to 60,611.74, while the broader NSE Nifty was up 382.95 points, or 2.17%, to 18,053.40.
Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital market on Friday as they bought £1,909.78 billion worth of shares, according to stock market data.
On the domestic macro front, India’s current account deficit widened to $23 billion, or 2.7% of GDP, in the December quarter, according to the Reserve Bank of India.
The deficit stood at $9.9 billion, or 1.3% of GDP, in the fiscal second quarter, while it was $2.2 billion, or 0.3% of GDP, in the same period last year, balance of payments data showed .
The center’s budget deficit at the end of February stood at 82.7% of the budget target for the full year, mainly due to higher spending, according to government data released on Thursday.
