MUMBAI: The Indian rupee on Monday strengthened marginally against the dollar after India’s trade deficit narrowed to 17-month low. India’s trade deficit narrowed to $6.8 billion in February as oil imports declined by over 55% from a month earlier.
Imports fell an annual 15.66% last month year-on-year to $28.39 billion. Merchandise exports also declined 15.02% year-on-year to $21.55 billion, government data showed on Friday. The government will issue wholesale price index (WPI)-based inflation data after 12.30pm on Monday. A Bloomberg poll expects WPI will be minus 0.8% in February compared with minus 0.39% in January. Traders were cautious as they are watching outcome of the US federal open market committee’s monetary policy review. The local unit opened at 62.96 per dollar. At 9.14am, the home currency was trading at 62.93, up 0.06% from previous close of 62.97. The benchmark Sensex rose 0.19% or 55 points to 28,544.04 points.
