The rupee pared initial gains and settled on a flat note at 74.94 against the US dollar on Thursday after the RBI kept interest rates unchanged.

At the interbank forex market, the domestic unit opened strong at 74.82 against the greenback, but lost ground during the day and finally settled at 74.94, unchanged from its previous close.

During the session, it witnessed an intra-day high of 74.77 and a low of 74.96 against the American currency.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Thursday kept interest rates unchanged to help tame inflation but decided to “continue with the accommodative stance of monetary policy as long as necessary to revive growth”.

“Given the uncertainty surrounding the inflation outlook and extremely weak state of the economy in the midst of an unprecedented shock from the ongoing pandemic, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to keep the policy rate on hold,” RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback’s strength against a basket of six currencies, slipped 0.02 per cent to 92.84.

“Indian rupee ended the session where it started after central bank kept interest rate unchanged. RBI said the inflation will stay elevated until September before easing and national output will shrink this year, dragging bonds and currency lower,” HDFC Securities Deputy Head Retail Research Devarsh Vakil said.

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