The Indian rupee inched 2 paise higher to provisionally settle at 74.15 against the U.S. currency, marking its fifth consecutive session of gains on Friday, after the announcement of RBI monetary policy. At the interbank forex market, the rupee which opened at 74.1, after hitting an intra-day high of 74.10 and a low of 74.22, finally closed at 74.15, higher by 2 paise over its last close. On Thursday, the rupee had settled at 74.17 against the U.S. dollar.
The RBI on Friday decided to keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at 4 percent but maintained an accommodative stance as the economy is yet to recover from the impact of the second COVID wave. The RBI raised the retail inflation projection for the current fiscal to 5.7 percent on account of supply-side impediments, firm crude oil prices and higher cost of raw materials.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, advanced 0.18 percent to 92.41. Seeing crude oil, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.59 percent to USD 71.71 per barrel.
Meanwhile, FPIs were net sellers in the capital market on Thursday as they offloaded shares worth Rs.719.88 crore, as per exchange data. At the stock market closing point, the BSE Sensex ended 215.12 points lower at 54,277.72, while the NSE Nifty slipped 56.40 points to 16,238.20.
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