Indian rupee depreciating for fifth straight session and breaching the psychological 64/dollar level, weakened to 20-month low on Thursday on the back of massive losses of local equities, while weakness of other Asian currencies also hurt the sentiment. Most emerging Asian currencies lost ground on Thursday as a global bond rout lifted government bond yields across the region. The currency was also weighed down on concerns over the government's taxation policies that threatened to reduce the allure of Indian assets for foreign institutions. Meanwhile, increased dollar demand from importers and banks added to the pessimistic milieu. On the global front, dollar languished near its lowest levels in over two months against a basket of major currencies on Thursday, under renewed pressure from disappointing U.S. data, while sterling braced for volatile trading ahead of an unpredictable UK election.
Finally, the rupee ended at 64.24, weaker by 70 paise from its previous close of 63.54 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 64.28 and 63.69 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 63.88 and for Euro stood at 72.51 on May 7, 2015. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 53.47, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 97.2062. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
