Rupee surges 19 paise to end at 75.55 against US dollar

The rupee started the financial year 2022-23 on a bullish note and settled 19 paise higher at 75.55 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday, supported by a firm trend in domestic equities.

At the interbank forex market, the local unit opened at 75.77 against the greenback and witnessed an intra-day high of 75.42 and a low of 75.79.

It finally ended at 75.55, registering a rise of 19 paise over its previous close.

On Thursday, the last trading session of FY22, the rupee had advanced by 16 paise to close at 75.74.

The local unit, however, closed the 2021-22 fiscal with overall losses of 3.61 per cent or 264 paise against the American currency due to a stronger dollar and surging crude oil prices.

The forex market was closed on Friday for the annual account closing of banks.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.12 per cent to 98.75.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, slipped 1.07 per cent to USD 103.27 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 1,335.05 points or 2.25 per cent higher at 60,611.74, while the broader NSE Nifty surged 382.95 points or 2.17 per cent to 18,053.40.

Foreign institutional investors remained net buyers in the capital market on Friday as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,909.78 crore, according to stock exchange data.

On the domestic macroeconomic front, India's current account deficit widened to USD 23 billion or 2.7 per cent of the GDP in the December quarter, according to the Reserve Bank of India.

The deficit was at USD 9.9 billion or 1.3 per cent of the GDP in the second quarter of the fiscal, while the same stood at USD 2.2 billion or 0.3 per cent of the GDP in the year-ago period, the data on Balance of Payments showed.

The Centre's fiscal deficit at the end of February stood at 82.7 per cent of the full-year budget target, mainly on account of higher expenditure, as per the government data released on Thursday.