After a weak opening, the rupee hit the day’s low of 67.48 to a dollar, as compared with Tuesday’s close of 67.08, prompting state-run banks to sell dollars on behalf of the Reserve Bank, currency dealers said. The RBI has always maintained that it intervened in the foreign exchange market to cut volatility and not to target a particular level for the rupee. The rupee ended the day at 67.27 to a dollar, a fresh 15- month low. Currency experts said a depreciating rupee could prompt the central bank to advance interest rate hikes. ‘3-6% depreciation risk’“We estimate the threshold for higher global oil prices for India is $70-75/bbl, wherein macrostability risks widen but remain manageable,” Tanvee Gupta Jain, economist, UBS Investment Bank, said.

Source: The Hindu May 09, 2018 17:31 UTC