Brent crude fell to $97.5 per barrel on Thursday, its lowest level in four-and-a-half months, brightening the prospects of an improvement in India’s macro-economic parameters and government finances and a lessening of its external-sector vulnerabilities. Softening of oil prices — many analysts expect the near-prospects to be benign as the likely US rate hike later this month could hit demand — could cool inflation, lend significant support to the falling rupee, thanks to lower forex outgo on import of assorted commodities and curb budget spend on explicit subsidies. Meanwhile, the rupee lost another 24 paise on Thursday to hit yet …
