Rupee feels slowdown pain, slips to over 72 against US dollar

Agencies
September 4, 2019

Mumbai, Sept 4: Disappointing GDP growth numbers along with concerns over US-China trade war and continued outflows of foreign funds from the country's equity market weakened the Indian rupee to 72.40 mark against the US dollar.

The rupee which opened at 72 to a US dollar from its last Friday's close of 71.41 depreciated to 72.40 on the back of massive foreign fund outflows.

"Lower GDP numbers at 5 per cent, CNH touching new lows of 7.20 led to the rupee weakness. Pair opened at 72 and depreciated to 72.40 on back of massive equity fall in Nifty," said Sajal Gupta, Head, Forex and Rates, Edelweiss Securities.

"US and China's hard stance added fears to the market participants. RBI too did not intervene much on back of other currencies weakening against the US Dollar."

Geojit Financial Services' Chief Market Strategist Anand James said: "Rupee, already under pressure from strong dollar amidst Brexit worries, received a major jolt as June quarter's GDP reading fell to 5 per cent."

"This was further exacerbated by dismal August auto sales even as markets gave a thumbs down to PSB mergers, thereby raising worries of further rupee selling, as the FII exodus from equities continues. Inflows are coming in the form of bonds, anticipating more rate cuts, but they remain less compared to the outflows."

On Tuesday, foreign investors sold-off Rs 2,016.20 crore on the BSE, NSE and MSEI in the capital market segment.

Besides, the two main stock exchanges were also impacted due to the weak growth numbers. This resulted in a bruising sell-off in the markets on Tuesday, erasing 770 points from the S&P BSE Sensex. 

Growth-sensitive stocks, state-run banks and manufacturing companies contributed most to the fall.

The benchmark Sensex fell by 769.88 points or 2.06 per cent at 36,562.91 before falling as much as 36,466.01. The broader NSE Nifty50 declined by 225.35 points or 2.04 per cent lower at 10,797.90.

According to Vaqarjaved Khan, Research Analyst with Angel Broking, the rupee is likely to depreciate towards 73.5 by the end of September 2019, "if the trade war escalates further between US and China and outflows from Indian equity market continues".

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News Network
July 26,2020

New Delhi, Jul 26: Nidan Singh Sachdeva, the Afghan Sikh who was kidnapped a month ago and released recently, arrived here earlier in the day and narrated the ordeals that he faced at the hands of abductors and also thanked the Indian government for bringing him back to his 'motherland'.

Facing threats from Pakistan-backed Taliban, eleven members of Sikh community from Afghanistan, who were granted short-term visas by Indian Embassy in Kabul, including Sachdeva, who was abducted from a gurudwara in Paktia province last month, touched down in New Delhi on Sunday afternoon.

Speaking to news agency on his return, an emotional Sachdeva, said, "I don't know what to call Hindustan -- whether it is my mother or my father -- Hindustan is Hindustan."

"I was abducted from the gurudwara and 20 hours later, I was covered with blood. I was tied to a tree as well. They used to beat me and ask me to convert into a Muslim. I repeatedly told them that why should I convert, I have my own religion," he said while describing
Nidan Singh thanked Government of India for bringing him here.

"I am more than thankful to the Indian government for bringing us here to our motherland. I have no words to describe my feelings here. I arrived here after much struggle. The atmosphere of fear prevails there.

Gurudwara is where we can be safe but a step outside the Gurdwara is fearful," he said.
"They used to beat me every day and every night," he said further and added, "It is because of sheer happiness, I am speechless. I am very grateful to them."

Ministry of External Affairs recently announced that India has decided to facilitate the return of Afghan Hindu and Sikh community members facing security threats in Afghanistan to India.
The decision comes four months after a terror attack at a gurdwara in Kabul's Shor Bazaar killed at least 25 members of the community.

India has condemned the "targeting and persecution" of minority community members by terrorists in Afghanistan at the behest of their external supporters remains a matter of grave concern.

Leaders of the Afghan Sikh community have appealed to the Indian government to accommodate the Sikhs and Hindus from Afghanistan and grant them legal entry with long term residency multiple entry visas.

Once a community of nearly 250,000 people, the Sikh and Hindu community in Afghanistan has endured years of discrimination and violence from extremists, and the community is now estimated to comprise fewer than 100 families across the country.

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News Network
July 27,2020

Chengdu, China, Jul 27: The American flag was lowered at the United States consulate in Chengdu on Monday, days after Beijing ordered it to close in retaliation for the shuttering of the Chinese consulate in Houston.

Footage on state broadcaster CCTV from outside the consulate showed the flag being slowly lowered early Monday morning, after diplomatic tensions soared between the two powers with both alleging the other had endangered national security.

Relations deteriorated in recent weeks in a Cold War-style standoff, with the Chengdu mission Friday ordered to shut in retaliation for the forced closure of Beijing's consulate in Houston, Texas.

The deadline for the Americans to exit Chengdu has been unclear, but the Chinese consulate in Houston was given 72 hours to close after the original order was made.

On Saturday news agency reporters saw workers removing the US insignia from the front of the consulate.

Over the weekend, removals trucks entered the US consulate and cleaners were seen carting large black rubbish bags from the building.

Beijing says closing the Chengdu consulate was a "legitimate and necessary response to the unreasonable measures by the United States", and has alleged that staff at the diplomatic mission endangered China's security and interests.

Washington officials, meanwhile, said there had been unacceptable efforts by the Chinese consulate in Houston to steal US corporate secrets.

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News Network
May 7,2020

May 7: Accusing the BJP government in Karnataka of "medieval barbarism" and treating migrants as worse than "bonded labourers", CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Wednesday hit out at the state's decision to stop workers from returning to their homes in different parts of the country citing requirements of the construction sector.

The Karnataka government has withdrawn its request to the railways to run special trains to ferry migrant labourers to their home states, hours after builders met Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to apprise him of the problems the construction sector will face in case they left.

"This is worse than treating them as bonded labour. Does the Indian constitution exist? Are there any laws in the country? This BJP state government is throwing us back to medieval barbarism. This will be stoutly resisted,” Yechury said in a tweet.

The railways is running Shramik Special trains to ferry to their home towns migrants who were stranded at their places of work during the lockdown.

So far, it has run more than 115 such trains.

The Principal Secretary in the Revenue Department N Manjunatha Prasad, who is the nodal officer for migrants, had requested the South Western Railways on Tuesday to run two train services a day for five days except Wednesday, while the state government wanted services thrice a day to Danapur in Bihar. However, later, Prasad wrote another letter within a few hours that the special trains were not required. Several migrants in the city were desperate to return home as they were out of jobs and money.

Yechury also lashed out at the central government over reports that it owed states and industry Rs 3 trillion and accused the centre of shifting the burden of fighting the pandemic to the state governments.

“While shifting the entire burden of fighting the pandemic on to the State governments, Modi government is not even paying their legitimate dues. After November 2019, Centre has not paid the GST compensation dues for the rest of the financial year, i.e., March 2020.

“Modi government has the right to loot while crores of people & States are left with nothing but the right to starve?,” he tweeted.

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