Business

Retail prices rose 5.69 per cent on year in January, their fastest pace since August 2014, government data showed on Friday.

The weaker dollar in the overseas market also boosted the rupee value, a forex dealer said.

The BSE Sensex after opening lower at 24,076.85 continued to slide on selling in blue-chips, forcing the index to touch a low of 23,919.47 before settling at 24,020.98, showing a loss of 266.44 points or 1.10 per cent.

The domestic currency moved in a range of 67.58 and 67.73 per dollar during the day.

About 1363 shares have advanced, 1196 shares declined, and 189 shares are unchanged.

The BSE Midcap index gained 1.9 percent and Smallcap surged 2.25 per cent.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who held talks with his UK counterpart George Osborne as part of the 8th India-UK Economic and Financial Dialogue and had a series of meetings with UK-based investors and fund managers.

Jaitley began his three-day UK visit with an interaction with a select group of persons of Indian-origin who are associated with India-UK businesses on Sunday.

Reserve Bank may face pressure to reduce the key lending rate further as industrial production contracted by 3.2 percent in November, its sharpest decline in four years.

Forex dealers said apart from selling of the American currency by exporters and banks, weakness in the dollar against other currencies supported the rupee.

At present, all households are entitled to get 12 cylinders of 14.2-kg each at subsidised rate of Rs 419.26, while the market price is Rs 608.

The rupee has gone from being one of the worst performing currencies to one of the best-performing against the dollar this year: Government.