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Rupee Edges Lower Ahead Of RBI Board Meeting Outcome: 10 Things To Know
19 Nov 2018, 12:47 PM IST 
INR Vs USD: The rupee has declined about 11 per cent since the start of the year.
- High crude prices led to the fall in the local currency. Oil prices rose around 1 per cent as traders expected top exporter Saudi Arabia to push producer club Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut supply towards year-end. The international benchmark, Brent crude, was trading higher by 0.72 per cent to $67.40 per barrel.
- However, weakness in the US dollar against some currencies in global markets limited the rupee fall, according to the PTI report.
- In RBI's board meeting, Finance Ministry nominees and some independent directors are expected to take on Governor Urjit Patel and his team over issues ranging from micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) credit to the central bank's reserves. Both sides are in favour of reaching a common ground, reported news agency Reuters.
- The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, inched about 0.1 per cent higher. It had declined about 0.5 per cent in the previous trading session.
- Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 844.82 crore on Friday, as per provisional data.
- Last week, official data showed that trade deficit in October widened to $17.13 billion due to a higher oil import bill. Exports rose by 17.86 per cent to $26.98 billion while imports increased by 17.62 per cent to $44.11 billion as compared to the year-ago month, leading to the widening of trade deficit. India imports more than 80 per cent of its crude oil requirements.
- Retail inflation in October, however, fell to a 13-month low of 3.31 per cent, government data showed earlier.
- The rupee has declined about 11 per cent since the start of the year, making it the worst performer in Asia, stung by high oil prices and large foreign dollar outflows, according to Reuters.
- The rupee lost 2.1 per cent in September, compared with a drop of 3.6 per cent in August, the worst since August 2015.
- In October, the rupee weakened by about 2 per cent, while so far in November the pace of fall further slowed to 0.4 per cent, news agency Reuters reported citing Refinitiv data. (With inputs from agencies)
