Rupee Rises 1ps To 84.70/$

Mumbai: The rupee settled on a flat note and appreciated by just 1paisa to close at 84.70 against US dollar on Friday, as the Reserve Bank of India left repo rate unchanged at 6.5 per cent in its monetary policy decision. The Reserve Bank of India on Friday kept its key interest rate unchanged citing inflation risks, but cut the Cash Reserve Ratio that banks are required to park with the central bank, boosting money with lenders to support a slowing economy.

Forex traders said an overall decline in the US dollar and crude oil prices supported the rupee. However, weak domestic markets capped sharp gains. At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 84.66 and touched an intraday high of 84.53 and a low of 84.70 against the greenback. On Thursday, the rupee recovered from its all-time low level and settled for the day with gains of 4paise at 84.71 against the US dollar.

“We expect the rupee to trade with a slight negative bias as the RBI lowered India’s GDP growth for FY25 to 6.6 per cent from 7.2 per cent in its previous projections,” said Anuj Choudhary – Research Analyst at Mirae Asset Sharekhan. RBI lowered its growth forecast for the year ending March 2025 to 6.6 per cent, from its earlier projection of 7.2 per cent. Das, however, said GDP slowdown bottomed out in the July-September quarter and has seen a pick-up in subsequent months due to festival spending and strong agriculture output.