Indian rupee ended 5 paise down against the US dollar on likely intervention by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) after it hit a new record low of 87.96 during the early trading session.
The local currency ended at 87.48 against the US dollar today, as compared to 87.43 against the greenback at previous trading session.
"Today’s intervention was a big one from RBI taking rupee down from 87.9575 to 87.41 a big move seen very rarely in the recent times on the same day. 88.00 should act as a big support for rupee while 87.30 should be a support for the dollar," said Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury and Executive Director at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.
In the early trade today, Indian rupee touched a new record low at 87.9563 against the US dollar due to introduction of new tariff plans of U.S. President Donald. The local currency opened at 87.9175 against the US dollar.
On February 9, US President Donald Trump said he will announce 25% tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum.
Trump, speaking to reporters Sunday on Air Force One, said the tariffs will apply to the metal imports from all countries. He didn't specify when the duties would take effect.
The president also said he would announce reciprocal tariffs later in the week on countries that tax US imports. Those tariffs will not go into effect the same day as the announcement, which could be Tuesday or Wednesday but soon after, Trump said.
This has led to increase in dollar index to 108.336 at early trade as compared to 108.040 at previous trading session.
The local currency got comfort on February 7 and rallied less after the Reserve Bank of India was not more dovish than expected at its monetary policy decision.
The RBI MPC, which met for the first time under the new central bank governor Sanjay Malhotra, cut the repo rate by 25 basis point to 6.25 percent to give a boost to a slowing economy.
The rate-setting panel unanimously decided to continue with the “neutral” stance.
The rate cut, the first in almost five years, comes a week after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget for FY26. The RBI projected GDP growth for the next fiscal at 6.7 percent. The inflation projection for current fiscal remains unchanged at 4.8 percent.
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