The rupee is down 13% against the dollar so far this year
- The rupee rose by as much as 67 paise against the US currency to touch 72 - the lowest level seen since September 21 - against the dollar, before giving up about half of those gains by the end of the session.
- "Rupee hit the 72-mark against US dollar for the first time since September in the morning session... However, reports showing WPI (Wholesale Price Index) hitting four-month high, along with a pull-back in oil and dollar, prompted the rupee to give away some gains," news agency Press Trust of India cited Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services, as saying.
- Wholesale inflation - based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) - quickened to a four-month high of 5.28 per cent in October.
- Analysts say hopes of rising liquidity in the system going forward supported the currency. "The rupee took cues from falling global oil prices and central bank's announcement to buy bonds via open market purchases... The down day for oil marked the 12th consecutive decline," said VK Sharma, head PCG and capital markets group, HDFC Securities.
- The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said on Tuesday that it would inject liquidity worth Rs 12,000 crore into the market by way of purchasing government securities on November 15. This was in line with the central bank's earlier decision to buy Rs 40,000 crore of government bonds via open market operations (OMO) this month, amid worries of a liquidity crunch after defaults at infrastructure financing major IL&FS.
- Domestic equity markets finished almost unchanged as gains in banking and oil & gas shares counterbalanced losses in IT and pharma stocks. The Sensex ended 2 points lower at 35,141 while the NSE Nifty finished at 10,576, down 6 points from the previous close.
- The dollar index - which measures the American currency against six major peers - held near a 16-month high, after retracing slightly earlier in the session as investors took profits. The dollar has benefited over the last week from expectations of further US interest rate hikes.
- Crude oil prices rallied towards $67 a barrel during the session after news agency Reuters reported OPEC and its partners are discussing a proposal to cut output by up to 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd), a larger figure than officials have mentioned previously.
- Brent - the international benchmark for crude oil - is down nearly 7 per cent to a one-year low of $65 a barrel since US President Donald Trump urged the OPEC or Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and Saudi Arabia to maintain their current policy of gradually increasing production.
- Since mid-October, Brent has fallen 17.5 per cent on concern about excess supply and slowing demand, marking one of the biggest declines since a price collapse in 2014. Global oil supply will outpace demand throughout 2019, as a relentless rise in output swamps growth in consumption that is at risk from a slowing economy, according to the International Energy Agency.
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