Rupee surges 23 paise to 75.80 against US dollar post RBI policy decision

The rupee advanced 23 paise to 75.80 against the US dollar in the opening trade on Friday, amid the Reserve Bank of India maintaining status quo on the benchmark lending rate.

Announcing the monetary policy, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the Indian economy has large forex reserves and that it stands ready and resolute to defend the economy.

At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 75.99 against the US dollar, gained further momentum and touched 75.80 against the American currency, registering a rise of 23 paise from the previous close.

On Thursday, the rupee declined 19 paise to close at 76.03 against the US dollar.

This is the 11th time in a row that the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) headed by Das has maintained status quo and left benchmark lending rate unchanged at 4 per cent.

RBI had last revised its policy repo rate or the short-term lending rate on May 22, 2020 in an off-policy cycle to perk up demand by cutting the interest rate to a historic low.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.13 per cent to 99.87.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude futures fell 0.61 per cent to USD 99.97 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share Sensex was trading 114.86 points or 0.19 per cent lower at 58,920.09 points, while the broader NSE Nifty fell 26.20 points, or 0.15 per cent, to 17,613.35 points.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs 5,009.62 crore, according to stock exchange data.