RUPEE OVERVIEW

The Rupee closed weaker than its opening on Friday even though it opened stronger tracking gains in other Asian currencies that rose on optimism over stimulus measures announced by the European Central Bank on Thursday. However, market players have perceived the Reserve Bank of India's significant dollar-buying interventions this week as a signal that the central bank may not allow appreciation in local currency above 75.20. On Thursday, ECB announced increasing the size of its Pandemic Emergency Purchase Program by 600 bln euros ($673 bln) to buy as much as 1.35 trln euros of eurozone government and corporate debt and extended the scheme to mid 2021. The expansion comes in addition to an existing 750 bln euros of government bond purchases set in March. ECB President Christine Lagarde said that the policymakers voted unanimously to expand the programme.Further, anticipation of foreign fund inflows into Indian companies, which have helped the INR retain its ground for over a month now, may continue to support Indian currency today as well. While some inflows for investment into Reliance Industries' subsidiary Jio Platforms Ltd have already hit the currency market, traders are of the view that more inflows may be in the pipelines. Jio Platforms has raised about $11.5 bln from investors including Facebook, Silver Lake Partners, Vista Equity Partners, General Atlantic, KKR and Mubadala Investment in less than six weeks, out of which Facebook has taken the largest bite. However, despite positive global cues and expectations of foreign inflows, the INR may remain in a narrow band, and traders may refrain from placing aggressive bets in favour of the rupee as they expect the RBI to curb any sharp appreciation in the Indian currency.