Rupee trades flat against US dollar on Thursday
The Indian rupee was trading flat against the US dollar on Thursday as US President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Indian goods to 50% over India’s continued imports of Russian energy, making them among the most heavily taxed US imports globally. The Ministry of External Affairs said US President signed an executive order for a 25% tariff on Indian goods on top of the 25% announced on July 31; one part takes effect from August 7, the rest after 21 days; ‘extremely unfortunate’. Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 4,999.10 crore on a net basis on Wednesday, exchange data showed. Reserve Bank of India Governor Sanjay Malhotra said India’s foreign exchange reserves fell by $9.3 billion to $688.9 billion as of August 1. Meanwhile, RBI intervention and its decision to hold interest rate steady, supported rupee sentiments.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading flat at its previous close of 87.72 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 87.7450 and 87.6725 respectively.
