Rupee gains for second day, up 25 paise against dollar at 87.82

Indian rupee

The rupee continued to gain for the second consecutive day and opened 25 paise up on October 16 after US President Donald Trump's claim that India plans to halt Russian oil imports, which led to the US slapping punitive tariffs on India.

The rupee opened at 87.82 against the dollar after ending the previous session at 88.07. Easing dollar index and strong Asian currencies also gave support to the rupee, currency experts said.

India is yet to react to Trump’s claim, who in August slapped an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian for buying Russian oil, taking the levy on Indian goods to 50 percent, one of the highest in the world.

Trump claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has committed to halt purchases of Russian oil, signalling a possible resolution to an issue at the centre of the diplomatic and trade rift between Washington and New Delhi.

Trump said Modi made the commitment to him during an October 15 conversation, which was previously undisclosed.

“I was not happy that India was buying oil, and he assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia. That’s a big step. Now I got to get China do the same thing,” Trump told reporters at the White House.

Trump said India could not stop the purchases “immediately”, saying, “it’s a little bit of a process, but the process is going to be over with soon.” The Indian embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The rupee was up 0.36 percent against the dollar from October 15, Thai baht 0.26 percent, South Korean won 0.19 percent, Singapore dollar 0.15 percent, Japanese yen 0.12 percent, Malasyian ringget 0.10 percent, Hong Kong dollar 0.03 percent, and the Chinese Renminbi traded 0.02 percent higher, according to the Bloomberg data.