Rupee jumps sharply against US dollar-New Forex trading hours come into force

07 Apr

BE/RBINOTE/17/2020

The Indian rupee rose against the US dollar today, tracking sharp gains in the domestic equity markets.
The rupee today settled at 75.63 against the US dollar, as compared to the previous close of 76.13 against the US dollar.
The forex market was closed on Monday on account of Mahavir Jayanti. During today’s trade, the rupee traded between 75.57 and 75.99. The Sensex was up about 8% or about 2,400 points in late trade.

From today, the new market trading hours for both bonds and foreign exchange came into effect.
The Reserve Bank of India), in a unprecedented move, has cut market trading hours for both bonds and foreign exchange to four hours, citing possible operational and logistical risks arising from the nationwide lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
The shortened trading hours will be effective from to April 17.

The country went into a 21-day lockdown starting March 25 amid rising cases of infections in the country.
Global equity markets extended gains today on signs of a slowdown in the spread of the coronavirus in key hotspots and some governments began making plans to ease restrictions.
While the mood is a little better on trading floors, analysts remained cautious.
So far this year the rupee is down about 6% so far this year against the US dollar, weighed down by strong outflows from Indian markets, particularly in the month of March.
Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have net withdrawn a record ₹1 lakh crore from the Indian equity and bond markets in March as the coronavirus pandemic dented investor sentiment worldwide.
Global oil prices today rose on hopes that the world’s biggest producers of crude will agree to cut output as the coronavirus pandemic crushes demand, even as analysts warn a global recession may be deeper than expected and big production cuts will be needed. Brent crude was up 2.4% at $33.85 a barrel.