The Rupee closed stronger on Thursday after the central bank tightened ?the screws on speculative bets against the currency, with the Asian unit having its best day since 2013, when policymakers had also resorted to extraordinary measures to stabilise markets. The RBI late on Wednesday barred banks from offering rupee non-deliverable forwards to resident and non-resident clients and said companies cannot re-book cancelled forwards. The move followed tighter limits on banks' FX positions in the onshore market. These steps sparked chunky dollar sales in the local forex ?market, helping shore up the ?rupee while widening ?the spread between the onshore and non-deliverable forwards, underlining the impact on hedging costs. The pound fell sharply on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed more aggressive strikes on Iran and gave little reassurance about the reopening ?of the Strait of Hormuz, sending oil prices surging and investors flocking to ?the U.S. dollar. Sterling was last down 0.74% at $1.3208, just a day after rising 0.6% on hopes that the war could soon be winding down. It earlier fell as much as 0.95%. The drop was largely a function ?of a jump in the dollar, which is seen as a safe-haven asset. ?The index measuring the greenback against a basket of other major currencies ?rose 0.59% . Britain is also highly exposed to energy imports and investors remain nervous about the ?country's fragile public finances. Yields on British government bonds jumped on Thursday as energy prices surged. Sterling dipped against the euro on Thursday, with the euro zone currency up 0.18% at 87.27 pence . The pound fell 1.9% against the dollar in March as the war raised concerns ?about an ?energy shock hitting the economy. Meanwhile, the euro fell 2.2% ?against the U.S. currency in a sign that almost all European economies are expected to slow. Hopes for a swift end to the Middle East war faded on Thursday after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed more aggressive strikes on Iran, sending oil prices sharply up again ?in a blow to consumers around the world. Oil prices jumped after Trump's speech and stock markets and equity futures tumbled. Brent crude , the global ?benchmark, was last up ?7.8% at $109.11 a ?barrel.......