Rupee drops 8 paise to close at 73.10 against U.S. dollar

The local unit witnessed an intra-day high of 73.02 and a low of 73.11 against the American currency.

The rupee on September 6 declined by 8 paise to close at 73.10 (provisional) against the U.S. currency tracking the strengthening of the greenback in the overseas markets.

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the domestic currency opened flat at 73.02, then lost ground and settled for the day at 73.10, down 8 paise over its previous close.

During the trading session, the local unit witnessed an intra-day high of 73.02 and a low of 73.11 against the American currency.

On Friday, the rupee had settled at 73.02 against the U.S. dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.28% higher at 92.29.

Brent crude futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.63% to $72.15 per barrel.

On the domestic equity market front, the BSE Sensex ended 166.96 points or 0.29% higher at 58,296.91, while the broader NSE Nifty advanced 54.20 points or 0.31% to 17,377.80.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market on Friday, as they purchased shares worth ₹768.58 crore, as per exchange data.

Gold Edges Lower As Dollar Rebounds

Gold prices edged lower on Monday as the U.S. dollar recovered some ground after having fallen at the end of last week to a one-month low on disappointing jobs data.

Spot gold slipped 0.2 percent to $1,823.61 per ounce, while U.S. gold futures were down 0.4 percent at $1,825.55.

Gold is seeing some consolidation around $1,800 levels after disappointing jobs and services sector data sparked questions about the economic recovery from the pandemic.

U.S. non-farm payroll employment rose by 235,000 jobs in August after soaring by an upwardly revised 1.053 million jobs in July, official data showed. Economists had expected employment to jump by about 750,000 jobs.

Despite the much weaker than expected job growth, the unemployment rate fell to 5.2 percent in August from 5.4 percent in July, matching economist estimates. Another report showed U.S. service sector growth slowed from a record pace in August.

Oil Prices Fall On Demand Concerns

Oil prices fell on Monday amid concerns over the outlook for demand after Saudi Arabia, the world’s top exporter, cut its prices for Asian buyers over the weekend.

Benchmark Brent crude futures dropped half a percent to $72.22 a barrel, while U.S. crude futures were down 0.6 percent at $68.89.

Losses were capped by a U.S. supply that is likely to remain limited as the recovery from Hurricane Ida continues.

State oil giant Saudi Aramco on Sunday cut its October official selling prices for Asia and Mediterranean-bound crude and left prices to Northwest Europe and the U.S. unchanged amid concerns about demand and increasing global supplies.

October prices for all crude grades sold to Asia have been cut by at least $1 a barrel, significantly more than had been expected.

The larger-than-expected cut for Asia was driven by several factors, including the weak recovery in the region’s oil demand, the easing of OPEC+ output restrictions and a Saudi desire to regain market share.

Standard Chartered: SCBSL To Hold 60% Of SC Bank Solutions JV – Quick Facts

Standard Chartered PLC (SCBFF.PK,STAC.L,STAN.L) announced a shareholders’ agreement with respect to the formation of a joint venture SC Bank Solutions, in which Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) Limited and BetaPlus will respectively hold 60% and 40% of the issued and paid up share capital. Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) or SCBSL, is a subsidiary of Standard Chartered, and BetaPlus is a holding company controlled by NTUC Enterprise. SC Bank Solutions, a fully licensed bank, will focus on providing digital banking services in line with Singapore’s efforts to digitalise economy.

Standard Chartered Bank (Singapore) and BetaPlus will contribute to SC Bank Solutions an aggregate cash amount of S$240 million. Standard Chartered Bank Singapore will contribute S$144 million to the joint venture. The funds will be used to develop the business of SC Bank Solutions.

Standard Chartered will continue to consolidate interest in SC Bank Solutions following completion of the deal.

Vessel welds last pipe in push to complete Nord Stream 2 gas line

The Fortuna pipelaying vessel on Monday welded the final pipe of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline's two lines and will lower it to the seabed, the Nord Stream 2 operating company said.

The company aims to start operating the undersea pipeline, which will pump Russian gas to Germany, by the end of the year, it said.

36,383 New COVID Cases, 277 Deaths In U.S.

With 36,383 new cases of coronavirus infections reported in the United States on Sunday, the national total has increased to 38,799,396, as per the latest data from Johns Hopkins University.

277 additional casualties took the national COVID death toll to 637,540.

As usual, Sunday’s lower metrics are attributed to reporting delays over the weekend.

California reported the most number of cases – 11,893 – over the weekend, while Texas – 70 – reported the most COVID-related deaths.

California is the worst affected state in terms of both of the COVID metrics, with 4,326,698 cases and a total of 65,758 people dying due to the disease.

A total of 1,522,570 tests were conducted nationally, according to data compiled by New York Times.

The number of people hospitalized due to coronavirus infection in the country has crossed the 100,000 mark. The toll has risen to 100,410, marking a 24 percent increase in a fortnight.

A total of 30,826,478 people have so far recovered from the disease in the country.

As per the latest data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a total of 173,520,211 people in the United States have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

This includes 81.7 percent of people above 65.

A total of 204,435,968 people, or 61.6 percent of the population, have received at least one dose.

A total of 368,863,734 vaccine doses have been administered so far nationally.