After 6 years, rupee rises and greets New Year 2018

After six years of continuous fall, the rupee has closed in the positive against the US dollar in 2017. 

The domestic currency broke above the crucial hurdle level of 64 and closed the year 2017 with 6.34 per cent gain at 63.87. 

After 2010, this is the first time the rupee is recording a positive close against the dollar on a yearly basis. 

Also, this is the just the third time it is making a positive close and also its best showing in the last 10 years. 

The years 2009 (4.9 per cent) and 2010 (4 per cent) were the other two instances when the rupee had ended the year in green against the dollar. 

The worst fall in the last 10 years was seen in 2008 when the global markets were hit by the US mortgage crisis. 

The rupee had tumbled 19.2 per cent in those years. The years 2011 and 2013 were the other two bad ones for the rupee in which the currency fell more than 10 per cent against the dollar. 

In 2011, the rupee was down 15.75 per cent. In 2013, the rupee, down 11 per cent for the year, recorded its all-time low of 68.85 on the back of strong foreign money outflows after the US decided to taper its quantitative easing. 

The major trigger for the rupee’s strength came after the BJP’s victory in the Uttar Pradesh elections when the currency broke above 64.

Weakness in the US dollar and strong foreign money inflows into the Indian debt were the other major factors that kept the rupee on a strong footing all through the year.The Indian debt segment had witnessed an inflow of about $23 billion last year, the second best from the data available since 2002