The rupee had on Friday settled at 69.70 against the US dollar

Here are key things to know about rupee-dollar exchange rate today:

This is the second straight session of gain for the rupee, during which it has strengthened by 61 paise against the dollar. The rupee rose on expectation of a rate cut in key policy rates by the Reserve Bank of India, Press Trust of India quoted forex traders as saying. The RBI's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is slated to announce its bi-monthly policy on Thursday. "Falling crude oil and slowing economic growth boosted speculations of monetary easing by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in its next bi-monthly policy. Market is already pricing 25 basis points cut interest rate and surplus liquidity conditions after majority government at the Centre," VK Sharma, head PCG & capital markets strategy, HDFC Securities, was quoted as saying in the PTI report. Moreover, heavy buying in domestic equities, selling of the American currency by exporters and foreign fund inflows also supported the local currency. The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, fell 0.11 per cent to 97.64. "Fall in US treasury yields and bets for the US interest rate cut weighted on the American dollar," Mr Sharma said. Meanwhile, Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 1.02 per cent to trade at $62.62 per barrel. Equity benchmarks ended at record high levels with the S&P BSE Sensex closing above 40,000 and the NSE Nifty 50 Index ending above the 12,000 mark for the first time. The Sensex surged 553 points or 1.4 per cent to close at record closing high of 40,268 and NSE Nifty 50 Index climbed 166 points or 1.4 per cent to end at an all-time closing high of 12,089. Foreign funds infused Rs 3,068.88 crore in the capital markets on a net basis Monday, provisional data showed. (With agency inputs)



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The rupee rose against the US dollar for a second straight day on hopes of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India. The rupee climbed by 44 paise or 0.6 per cent to end at 69.26 against the greenback on Monday, news agency Press Trust of India reported. The rise was in line with a rally in domestic equities amid hopes of a rate cut by the RBI after India's economic growth slowed to 5.8 per cent in last quarter of financial year 208-19, according to the agency. The domestic currency opened strong at 69.48 and rose to an intraday high of 69.10 at the forex market. It had settled at 69.70 against the dollar on Friday.