The rupee on Thursday gained 48 paise to close above the 74 level at 73.82 against the US dollar on Thursday, as sustained foreign fund inflows, positive domestic equities and weakness in the American currency boosted the investor sentiment. According to dealers, comments from Reserve Bank of India Governor Shaktikanta Das that the central bank has not exhausted its ammunition to deal with the current situation due to the pandemic also strengthened the rupee. The domestic unit opened at 74.30, unchanged from its previous closing, but gained ground during the day and ended at 73.82 against the greenback over its previous close. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.17 per cent to 92.84. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth Rs 1,581.31 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data. With this, FII investment in August rose to Rs 46,000 crore, the highest monthly inflow in the current year. On the domestic equities front, benchmarks Sensex and Nifty lost their intra-day gains to end marginally higher Thursday as monthly derivative contracts expired amid lacklustre global cues. After touching a high of 39,326.98 in the day, the BSE Sensex succumbed to selling pressure in the last hour of trade and finished at 39,113.47, up 39.55 points or 0.10 per cent. The NSE Nifty inched up 9.65 points or 0.08 per cent to close at 11,559.25. The Sensex has now gained 893.08 points in five sessions, while the Nifty has climbed 247.05 points. IndusInd Bank was the top gainer in the Sensex pack Thursday, rallying 6.59 per cent, followed by M&M, SBI, HDFC, Axis Bank, Sun Pharma and Maruti. On the other hand, ONGC, Bajaj Auto, RIL, Kotak Bank, UltraTech Cement and Bharti Airtel were among the losers, falling up to 1.47 per cent, according to a PTI report.
