RTTN:Indian Rupee Rises To 2-week High Against Dollar
(RTTNews) - The Indian rupee spiked higher against its US counterpart on Thursday as domestic equities extended its itra-day gains after a report showed that India's annual food inflation rate for the week ended December 24 slipped to a negative growth.
Indian shares rebounded on speculation the Reserve Bank of India will cut interest rates when the central bank meets on January 24 for its credit policy review. The BSE Sensex rose 43.24 or 0.28 percent, to 15,927.55 and the S&P CNX Nifty Index added 0.3 percent to 4,765.20.
Annual inflation rate of food article prices, as measured by the wholesale price index, or WPI, (with base year 2004-05) for the week ended December 24 witnessed a negative growth of 3.36 percent, compared to a positive growth of 0.42 percent in the preceding week.
Despite the recent moderation in food inflation, overall inflation continue to remain elevated. Headline inflation based on the wholesale price index stood at 9.11 percent in November, despite 13 rate hikes by the apex bank.
The rupee advanced to a 2-week high of 52.6150 against the US dollar, up by more than 36 paisa from yesterday's close of 52.9775. The rupee traded below the 53.0 mark versus the dollar most of the time since mid-December and hit a record low of 54.3050 on December 15, 2011.
