The Indian rupee climbed to a 3-week high against its US counterpart despite weak opening in the equity market. Traders continue to mull yesterday's economic report, which showed that India's Inflation plunged to a two-decade low.
The BSE Sensex is moving in a very narrow range. The benchmark is now trading at 8,908, down 94 points over the previous close, while the S&P CNX Nifty is down 0.80% to 2,785.
On the BSE, the market breadth is slightly negative, with 733 gainers compared to 788 stocks that are declining. The broad-based BSE 500 index and the mid-cap index are trading in negative territory, but the small-cap index is showing a marginal gain. The Sensex futures are trading at a premium of 109 points to the benchmark.
India's inflation rate for the week ended March 7 plunges to a two-decade low of 0.44%, compared to 2.43% in the preceding week, paving way for the Reserve Bank of India to announce a further cut in interest rates to stimulate the economy. This is the lowest number in the current WPI series and is heading towards zero, and analysts expect it would soon turn negative.
On March 03, the Reserve Bank of India, or RBI, slashed its repo rate by 50 basis points to 5%. The RBI reduced the reverse repo rate also by 50 basis points to 3.5%.
At about 11:30 pm ET, the rupee reached a new 3-week high of 49.90 against the greenback, compared to Thursday's closing value of 50.26. The rupee may likely target the 49.3 level against the buck, if it rises further.
The rupee has gained 5 percent from an all-time record low of 52.2 hit earlier this month, helped by a rising Stock market.
India's exports are likely to recover in the first quarter of next year, Commerce Secretary G.K. Pillai said. The country's exports were slowing down since October 2008.
India reported 30% growth in exports in the first half of the current year and registered a negative growth by October, when it plunged 12.1%. The exports dipped 9.9% in November and fell 1.1% in December.
Strengthening of the rupee might bring hardships to the exporters, Labour intensive industries such as textiles and garments, gems and jewellery and leather would be injured the most.
The Indian currency has fallen by more than 8 percent since the beginning of this year, as investors become risk averse due to global financial turmoil.
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April 17, 2026 15:29 ET The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to raise concerns for policymakers who worry about the impact of the supply shock and high energy prices on the real economy. Producer price data and various survey results on the housing market were the main news from the U.S. this week. In Europe, industrial production data for the euro area gained attention. GDP figures out of China and the policy move by the Singapore central bank were in focus in Asia.