Currency market to remain shut for 2 days

The Indian currency market will remain shut for two days on account of annual bank closing and Ram Navami.

On April 1, the currency market will remain shut on account of the annual closing of accounts, while on April 2 it is a public holiday for Ram Navami.

On March 31, the Indian rupee ended flat at 75.62 per dollar against Monday's closing of 75.61.

"Rupee traded positive as the global market witnessed some respite on corona spread front. The next two days the currency market will remain closed, which can lead to a sharp gap opening on Friday which can take rupee weakness to near 76 or above 75," said Jateen Trivedi, Senior Research Analyst (Commodity & Currency) at LKP Securities.

On March 31, the domestic equity market ended on a positive note with Sensex rising 1,028.17 points at 29468.49, and the Nifty ending 316.65 points higher at 8597.75.

"Further strength in the dollar is also likely to give direction to the Indian rupee. We expect that broadly, rupee could trade with a negative bias and in range of 74.70 and 77.10," said Motilal Oswal.

Gold prices on Wednesday clawed back from a steep fall in the previous session, as the US dollar eased following the Federal Reserve's latest stimulus boost and as Asian equities slipped with the coronavirus pandemic sharply slowing global growth, said Reuters.

Crude oil benchmarks opened the month mixed on Wednesday, following their biggest-ever quarterly and monthly losses, overshadowed by fears of global oversupply as data showed a bigger-than-expected rise in inventories in the United States, it added.