Sharply lower than 87.4275 against the greenback at the previous trading session, the local currency opened at 87.9175 against the US dollar.
US President Donald Trump has stated on February 9 that he will announce 25% tariffs on all imports of steel and aluminum.
Furthermore, Trump said that the tariffs will apply to the metal imports from all countries. Speaking to reporters Sunday on Air Force One. However, he hasn’t specified when the duties would take effect.
Furthermore, on countries that tax US imports, the president also said he would announce reciprocal tariffs later in the week. Also to note, Trump said that those tariffs will not go into effect the same day as the announcement, which is slated to be on Tuesday or Wednesday, but soon after.
As compared to 108.040 at the previous trading session, this has led to increase in dollar index to 108.336 at early trade. Furthermore, rallying less after the Reserve Bank of India was not more dovish than expected at its monetary policy decision, the local currency got comfortable on February 7.
The RBI MPC cut the repo rate by 25 basis points to 6.25 percent to give a boost to a slowing economy. This was carried out after RBI met for the first time under the new central bank governor Sanjay Malhotra.
Also to note, the rate-setting panel decided to continue with the “neutral” stance, unanimously.
This rate cut comes just after a week when Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Budget for FY26; the first in almost five years. The RBI has also projected GDP growth for the next fiscal at 6.7 percent, wherein, the inflation projection for the current fiscal remains unchanged at 4.8 percent.
