Current Affairs for BANK, IBPS Exams - 30 June 2022

::National::

Fadnavis to hold talks with Shiv Sena rebels before Maharashtra govt formation

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis is expected to hold talks with Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena rebels before they are likely to stake the claim for forming the next government in Maharashtra, people aware of the matter said.
Uddhav Thackeray resigned as the chief minister on Wednesday after the Supreme Court refused to stall a floor test that the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) appeared set to lose. The resignation brought down the curtain on the MVA government and shifted the focus to the BJP as it is set to form the next government with the support of 39 rebel Sena lawmakers.
The people cited above said BJP and the Shinde group, which is in Goa, are scheduled to hold a series of meetings related to the government formation.
A BJP leader said no final decision has been taken over when to stake the claim and that it depends on the final nod from the central leadership after a power-sharing pact is finalised with the Shinde camp. “The legislative party meeting, election of the leader are just formalities which can take place any time. Since the leader of Opposition [Fadnavis] leads the party in the assembly, there will not be a formal need to choose the leader again,” said a BJP leader, requesting anonymity.

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::International::

Iran-US nuclear talks in Qatar end without making progress

Indirect negotiations between Iran and the U.S. over Tehran’s tattered nuclear deal with world powers ended Wednesday in Qatar after failing to make significant progress amid a growing crisis over the Islamic Republic’s atomic program, diplomats said.
The Doha talks broke up after two days without any sign of a breakthrough, months after talks in Vienna among all of the deal’s parties went on “pause.” In the time since, Iran shut off surveillance cameras of international inspectors and now has enough high-enriched uranium to potentially fashion into at least one nuclear bomb if it chose.
And with Iran and the U.S. blaming each other for the talks’ failure, it remains unclear when — or if — there will be another round of negotiations.
European Union mediator Enrique Mora on Twitter described as “intense” the two days of talks in Doha.
“Unfortunately, not yet the progress the EU team as coordinator had hoped-for,” Mora wrote. “We will keep working with even greater urgency to bring back on track a key deal for non-proliferation and regional stability.”
Mora’s comments came hours after the semiofficial Tasnim news agency, believed to be close to Iran’s hard-line Revolutionary Guard, described the negotiations as finished hours before they ended and having “no effect on breaking the deadlock in the talks.”
Tasnim claimed that the American position did not include “a guarantee for Iran benefiting economically from the deal,” quoting what it described as unnamed “informed sources.”

::Economy::

RBI may need to tweak forex strategy, let rupee weaken, say analysts

India's central bank may need to change the way it seeks to slow the rupee's decline, analysts and traders say, with its current method of intervention in the forwards market now only accelerating the currency's fall.
The rupee has hit a series of record lows this week and is within striking distance of the psychologically important 79-to-a-dollar level, as concerns around growth, portfolio outflows, high global crude prices and sustained inflation weigh.
To control the tumble, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has sold dollars in the spot market and simultaneously bought and sold in the forwards market.
However, traders say the RBI's actions in the onshore forwards market have led premiums to crash sharply with the 1-year annualised forward premium now below 3%, levels last seen in November 2011, wiping out carry trade gains and pressuring the spot rupee price lower.
"Maturing forward contracts are suspected to be weighing on the currency this week, besides an unsupportive macro backdrop of a portfolio outflows, high oil and bid dollar," said Radhika Rao, senior economist with DBS Bank.
"In the short-term, intervention strategy might return to the spot to meet dollar demand, in light of a sharp fall in forward premiums," Rao said.
At $590.6 billion, the reserves give RBI enough firepower to halt the slide in the currency but it is unlikely to intervene aggressively against fundamentals.
The rupee was market-determined, but the RBI would not allow "runaway depreciation" in the currency, its chief Shaktikanta Das said last month.
The rupee has held up relatively better than its Asian peers on account of the central bank intervention but with a widening trade and current account deficit (CAD) and sustained foreign portfolio outflows, the downward pressure has intensified.

Rupee falls 18 paise to close at new low of 79.03 against US dollar

The rupee depreciated 18 paise to close at a record low of 79.03 (provisional) against the US dollar on Wednesday, weighed down by persistent foreign capital outflows, a strong dollar overseas and surge in crude oil prices.
At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened lower at 78.86 against the greenback and finally settled at 79.03, down 18 paise over its previous close.
During the session, the rupee touched an all-time low of 79.05 against the American currency.
On Tuesday, the rupee plunged by 48 paise to close at the record low of 78.85 against the US dollar.
The domestic unit has lost 1.97 per cent so far this month and has eroded a staggering 6.39 per cent since the start of this year.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.13 per cent higher at 104.64.
The rupee depreciated following risk-averse sentiments and weaker regional currencies, Dilip Parmar, Research Analyst, HDFC Securities said, adding "high demand and tighter dollar liquidity following quarter-end rebalancing weighed on a local unit(rupee)".
The sentiment remains feeble for the rupee amid foreign fund outflows and fear of dollar shortages following quantitative tightening from the US Federal Reserve.
"The short-term outlook for spot USD/INR remains bullish and one can see a level of 79.10 in the coming days, while on the lower side support has been shifted to 78.38," Parmar said.

::Sports::

Malaysia Open: Sindhu, Prannoy advance to quarterfinals

Two-time Olympic medallist P V Sindhu entered the quarterfinals with a come-from-behind victory over Thailand's PhittayapornChaiwan in the Malaysia Open.
The world No. 7 dispatched her Thai opponent 19-21 21-9 21-14 in a 57-minute second round clash at the Axiata Arena.
The seventh seeded Indian will next face her nemesis Tai Tzu Ying of Chinese Taipei in the last eight face-off.
HS Prannoy, the world No. 21, also advanced to the quarterfinals of the men's singles with an easy 21-15 21-7 victory over fourth seed Chou Tien Chen of Chinese Taipei.
One of the heroes of India's epic Thomas Cup triumph, the unseeded Prannoy will lock horns with seventh seed Indonesian Jontan Christie..