Rupee strengthens for second straight session

Continuing strong recovery momentum for the second day, Indian rupee ended higher against the US dollar on Thursday, driven by weakening of the overall recovery in global markets.

Traders took support with the government data which showed that foreign direct investment into India grew by 28 per cent to $16.33 billion during the first quarter of the current fiscal. The inflow of FDI during April-June of 2018-19 stood at USD 12.75 billion.

Market participants paid no heed towards domestic credit rating agency CRISIL's cut in India’s GDP growth forecast in the current financial year (FY20) to 6.3 per cent from its earlier forecast of 6.9 per cent.

The agency said that the lower GDP growth forecast corroborates the fact that India’s economic slowdown is deeper and more broad-based than suspected. On the global front, safe-haven dollar and yen fell on Wednesday after global political worries eased with what markets perceived as positive news in Hong Kong, Italy and Britain.

Finally, the rupee ended at 71.84, 28 paise stronger from its previous close of 72.12 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 71.79 and 71.98, respectively.