Rupee opens 10 paise down at 63.68 as Budget looms

The rupee on Thursday started 10 paise down at 63.68 against the dollar ahead of the tabling of the Union Budget 2018 at around 11 am.

On Wednesday, the local currency had settled 2 paise up at 63.58.

Meanwhile, domestic equity markets had a positive opening, tracking global cues. The BSE Sensex was trading nearly 150 points up at 36,113 in early trade while the NSE Nifty index rose 37 points to 11,064.


Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 136.63 crore yesterday, as per provisional data. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought equities worth a net Rs 1,294.66 crore.

On the macro front, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) on Wednesday revised the gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate for 2015-16 to 8.2 per cent from the earlier 8 per cent and kept the 2016-17 growth unchanged at 7.1 per cent.

The real GDP or GDP at constant (2011-12) prices for 2016-17 and 2015-16 stood at Rs 121.96 lakh crore and Rs 113.86 lakh crore, respectively, showing growth of 7.1 per cent during 2016-17 and 8.2 per cent during 2015-16.