Rupee resilient in face of Trump tariffs, recover intraday losses to close 7 paise up

Rupee

The rupee ended 7 paise up on April 3 after recovering intraday losses even as Asian peers ended lower following US reciprocal tariff announcement amid a falling dollar.

The rupee ended at 85.44 against the dollar after ending the previous session at 85.51.

“The Indian rupee strengthened after a sluggish start, largely due to the weakening of the US dollar against key global currencies. Concerns surrounding a potential recession in the United States, coupled with rising inflation following the impact of tariffs, placed downward pressure on the dollar,” said Dilip Parmar, a senior research analyst at HDFC Securities.

The dollar index, which measures American currency's value against six major global peers, fell to 101.533 from previous day’s 103.807.

The dollar index logged its lowest level since October 1, when it was at 101.194. Currency experts said this is because of more aggressive than expected tariff by the US President Donald Trump.

"The dollar index also fell as the Tariffs would take US nearer to recession with market expecting growth to fall to below zero and inflation rising to 5%. The dollar index fell and the next support is at 100.20 for the index," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, head of treasury and executive director at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.

Earlier in the day, Trump unveiled global reciprocal tariffs. The US will slap a 27 percent levy on Indian goods, 20 percent on imports from the European Union, 25 percent on South Korea, 24 percent on Japan and 32 percent on Taiwan.

On India, the chart showed that the country charged 52 percent tariffs on the US, “including currency manipulation and trade barriers”, and America would now charge India “discounted reciprocal tariffs” of 26 percent. But White House annexure showed India's tariff at 27 percent.