The Indian rupee surged 15 paise to 74.69 against the American dollar in early deals on July 31 tracking weakness in the greenback.
At the interbank forex market, the rupee opened at 74.74, gained further ground and touched 74.69 against the U.S. dollar, up 15 paise over its last close of 74.84.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, fell by 0.40% to 92.65.
“The U.S. dollar extended losses this morning in Asian trade weighed down by weak economic data and President Trump’s tweet on elections,” Reliance Securities said in a research note.
The U.S. economy plunged by a record-shattering 32.9% annual rate last quarter.
U.S. President Donald Trump on July 30, for the first time, openly floated the idea of postponing the presidential elections in November, a suggestion immediately criticised by leaders of the opposition Democratic Party.
“With universal mail-in voting (not absentee voting, which is good), 2020 will be the most inaccurate and fraudulent election in history,” Mr. Trump tweeted on July 30, just 96 days before the election.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading 22.86 points lower at 37,713.21 and broader NSE Nifty fell 1.55 points to 11,100.60.
Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market as they purchased shares worth ₹207.30 crore on July 30, according to provisional exchange data.
Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, rose 0.54% to $43.17 per barrel.
