Indian rupee, after taking a breather in previous trading session, resumed its southbound journey and ended weak on Wednesday on the back of worsening crisis in Iraq, which threatening to disrupt oil supplies, sapped global risk-appetite for emerging market’s assets, including rupee. Additionally, negative local equities also weighed on the sentiment. However, the local unit recovered from day’s low level by close of trade after state-owned banks sold dollars, likely on behalf of the central bank. On the global front, dollar held its gains on Wednesday after a broad firming on the back of higher-than-expected U.S. consumer prices for May that has fanned speculation that the Federal Reserve may inch closer towards hiking interest rates.
Finally, the rupee ended at 60.40, weaker by 36 paise from its previous close of 60.04 on Tuesday. The currency touched a high and low of 60.54 and 60.06 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 60.12 and for Euro stood at 81.43 on June 18, 2014. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 58.81, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 102.0004. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
