The Indian rupee tumbled to an all-time low against the US dollar yesterday, fuelling the concerns surrounding India's faltering economy.
The rupee fell to 58 to the dollar in trading yesterday, beyond the last record of 57.37 touched in June last year.
"The main reason causing the rupee to fall is the immense strength of the dollar index," said Adeeb Ahamed, the chief executive of Lulu International Exchange.
India is grappling with slower economic growth, high inflation, and gaping trade and fiscal deficits. The country is heavily reliant on imports, particularly of oil and gold, so a decline in the value of the rupee makes these purchases more costly.
"A country with high exports will be happier with a depreciating currency," said Mr Ahamed. "India, on the other hand, does not enjoy this luxury, mainly because of increasing demand for oil, which constitutes a major portion of its import basket."
The softness of the currency is however cheered by Indian expatriates in the UAE. The dirham is pegged to the dollar, which means that Indians sending currency home receive more rupees for each dirham.
"It brings a smile to all the Indian expatriates," said Mr Ahamed.
Yesterday the dirham was fetching 15.8 rupees.
P Chidambaram, India's finance minister, last week said that the decline in the Indian rupee was not a matter of concern because capital inflows were strong. "I think the rupee will stabilise and find its correct level," he said, speaking at the Indian Banks' Association annual meeting in Mumbai.
"The weakness right now is not related to domestic factors in India," said Naveen Mathur, the associate director, commodities and currencies, at Angel Broking. "If you see the capital markets have done pretty well in the last one to two months. When the money flows into the capital markets, the rupee should appreciate.
But the rupee is actually not appreciating because of the strength of the dollar index. Nothing new has happened [in India] - things are kind of stable, so domestic factors politically are not leading the rupee weakness in the current space."
As well as putting pressure on imports, the currency's fall comes at a time when India is trying to attract more foreign investment and its weakness hurts this cause, Mr Mathur added.
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COMPANY PROFILE
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Veil (Object Lessons)
Rafia Zakaria
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A QUIET PLACE
Starring: Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Djimon Hounsou
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Rating: 4/5
Saturday's results
Brighton 1-1 Leicester City
Everton 1-0 Cardiff City
Manchester United 0-0 Crystal Palace
Watford 0-3 Liverpool
West Ham United 0-4 Manchester City
Alita: Battle Angel
Director: Robert Rodriguez
Stars: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Keean Johnson
Four stars
Four-day collections of TOH
Day Indian Rs (Dh)
Thursday 500.75 million (25.23m)
Friday 280.25m (14.12m)
Saturday 220.75m (11.21m)
Sunday 170.25m (8.58m)
Total 1.19bn (59.15m)
(Figures in millions, approximate)
MATCH INFO
Syria v Australia
2018 World Cup qualifying: Asia fourth round play-off first leg
Venue: Hang Jebat Stadium (Malacca, Malayisa)
Kick-off: Thursday, 4.30pm (UAE)
Watch: beIN Sports HD
* Second leg in Australia scheduled for October 10
England ODI squad
Eoin Morgan (captain), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Sam Billings, Jos Buttler, Tom Curran, Alex Hales, Liam Plunkett, Adil Rashid, Joe Root, Jason Roy, Ben Stokes, David Willey, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.
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If symptoms occur, they usually last for two-seven days
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Confirmed bouts (more to be added)
Cory Sandhagen v Umar Nurmagomedov
Nick Diaz v Vicente Luque
Michael Chiesa v Tony Ferguson
Deiveson Figueiredo v Marlon Vera
Mackenzie Dern v Loopy Godinez
Tickets for the August 3 Fight Night, held in partnership with the Department of Culture and Tourism Abu Dhabi, went on sale earlier this month, through www.etihadarena.ae and www.ticketmaster.ae.
EXPATS
Director: Lulu Wang
Stars: Nicole Kidman, Sarayu Blue, Ji-young Yoo, Brian Tee, Jack Huston
Rating: 4/5
Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
Top 10 most competitive economies
1. Singapore
2. Switzerland
3. Denmark
4. Ireland
5. Hong Kong
6. Sweden
7. UAE
8. Taiwan
9. Netherlands
10. Norway
The UAE's journey to space