Rupee ends slightly higher at 71.85 against dollar

New Delhi: Rupee saw quite a bit of volatility on Friday before settling the trade slightly higher. The Indian currency closed at 71.85 against dollar.

The rupee recovered today by 50 paise to 71.68 against the dollar in morning trade in the forex market on the government's assurance that all steps would be taken to ensure the domestic currency does not depreciate to unreasonable levels. It, however, erased all gains against the dollar and weakened sharply to 71.99 intra-day.

The rupee breached the historic low of 72 level this week, marking year-to-date losses of more than 13 percent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a meeting with finance ministry officials later on Friday evening to discuss the fall in the rupee and other economic issues, a government source told news agency Reuters.

Besides having an impact on current account deficit, the nosediving rupee has made imports costlier and led to petrol and diesel prices skyrocketing to record highs.

The government has so far maintained that it would not take any knee-jerk action as a response to the fall in rupee or spike in fuel prices.

Forex traders will also closely watch an economic review meeting by Prime Minister Narendra Modi scheduled on Saturday for any steps that could prop up the rupee, which has been the worst performer in Asia so far in 2018, Reuters said.

With Agency Inputs