Rupee crashes 68 paise in volatile trade as Modi’s BJP seen narrowly leading vs Rahul’s Congress in Gujarat

The Indian rupee crashed as much as 68 paise against the US dollar on Monday as investors turned cautious over the outcome of Gujarat State election results. The rupee plunged heavily in the opening session on Monday, diving as much as 68 paise to 64.72 against the US dollar after early trend suggested that the BJP and the Congress are neck and neck in Gujarat Assembly sweepstakes after one hour of counting of votes. According to the latest data available, BJP was seen holding 98 seats while Congress estated 83 seats. During the day, as the counting progressed, Indian rupee recovered most of its losses, trading 20 paise down at 64.24 apiece US dollar. Besides, the American currency’s strength against other currencies overseas weighed on the domestic unit, traders said. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump’s much-hyped tax cuts moved a step closer to reality.

The Indian rupee gained as much as 30 paise against the US dollar on Friday after most of the exit polls showed BJP winning with a clear margin in the state elections of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh. The Narendra Modi led Bharatiya Janata Party was seen heading for victories in both states. As far as the state of Gujarat is concerned, almost all exit polls predicted more than 100 seats out of 182 for the BJP where the party has been positioned in power nearly for last two decades. Earlier today, the Indian rupee opened 15 paise higher against the US dollar. The domestic currency rupee jumped as high as 33 paise in the afternoon trades to hit a high of 64.01 apiece US dollar.

The much-awaited results of keenly fought assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat will be out today. In both states, PM Narendra Modi led the campaign for the BJP, while Rahul Gandhi was the pivot of the Congress’ electioneering. During the campaign in Gujarat, Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah trained guns on the Congress on issues like Ram Temple, alleged Pakistani interference in the Gujarat polls and (suspended Congress leader) Mani Shankar Aiyar’s remarks.

Meanwhile, India’s key equity indices Sensex and Nifty lost heavily on Monday following mixed sentiments of investors as vote counting for the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh witnessed a neck to neck position or BJP and Congress. BSE Sensex after shedding 98.45 points or 0.29% in opening trades tanked as much as 867.34 points to hit the day’s low of 32595.63 whereas NSE Nifty plummeted 188.3 points to hit the day’s low at 10,074.8.