Rupee strengthens against US dollar on Friday
Indian rupee strengthened against the US dollar on Friday, tracking firm trend in domestic equities, significant foreign fund inflows and muted American currency at overseas markets. Foreign Institutional Investors were net buyers in the capital markets on Thursday, as they purchased shares worth Rs 3,259.56 crore, exchange data showed. Meanwhile, MSCI is set to rebalance its indices today which is estimated to lead to net inflows worth $5.5 billion into the Indian stock market, also supporting rupee sentiments. Rupee improved further after Moody's Ratings raised India's GDP expansion projections for 2024 and 2025 to 7.2% and 6.6%, respectively, while Fitch expects India to remain among the fastest-growing sovereigns with GDP growth of 7.2% in the current fiscal year and 6.5% in FY26. However, some gains were limited by upbeat US Q2 GDP data, which trimmed expectations for a larger 50 basis point interest rate cut in September by the US Federal Reserve.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 83.86, stronger by 3 paise from its previous close of 83.89 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 83.8750 and 83.8275 respectively.