Indian rupee Vs dollar: Rupee stays near 65-mark following economic data release

The Indian rupee stayed over 65-mark against the US dollar benchmark indices this week in the forex market, following a list of economic data release in the country. The domestic currency has been hovering between 64 - 65 level against American unit. This week was followed by announcement of CPI inflation, factory output and trade deficit which had their impact on the performance of rupee. 

The rupee closed at 65.210 down by 0.077  points or 0.12% against US dollar. This was despite better-than-expected inflation numbers released yesterday.

For the month of March 2018, Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation or retail inflation eased to 4.28% - witnessing it's third consecutive month of decline, mainly on account of easing food prices including vegetables, government data showed today. 

The CPI which is a key data factored in by the RBI to arrive at interest rate, was 4.44% in February 2018 and 5.07% in January 2018. However, the March 2018 inflation is higher compared to 3.89% recorded in the same month last year.

Index of Industrial Production (IIP) or factory output for the month of February 2018 recorded a growth rate of 7.1% which is lower compared to 7.5% of January 2018 month. However the latest numbers are on similar line with December 2017 where it stood at 7.1%. It needs to noted that the indicator has touched 5-year mark of 8.8% in the month of November 2017 - indicating that GST and demonetisation shocks were fading away in the country. 

The factory output has been riding on robust performance of manufacturing sector coupled with higher offtake of capital goods and consumer durables.

Meanwhile, the India’s trade deficit almost doubled in 2017-18 compared to the previous fiscal as the country’s import bill continued to inflate. 

According to data released by the commerce ministry, it was known that, gap between exports and imports, widened by 28.5% from a year ago to $13.7 billion in the month of March - taking the annual deficit to $87.2 billion. In the corresponding period of March 2017, the deficit was at $47.7 billion. 

Moreover, FPI investors on Friday made inflows of Rs 644.63 crore together in equity, hybrid and debt market. 

On the other hand, the benchmark Sensex finished at 34,192.65 above 91.52 points or 0.27%, while the Nifty 50 completed at 10,480.60 higher by 21.95 points or 0.21%.