Indian rupee strengthening further surged on Thursday on sustained selling of the American currency by exporters and banks after the dollar turned weak overseas, against other currencies when the US Fed kept its near-zero benchmark interest rate unchanged and disappointed the traders who were expecting a clearer signal on the timing of an interest rate increase. The domestic currency also got boost with the surge in the local equity markets, which bucking global sluggishness moved higher for the fifth straight session. In the global markets, the dollar fell against most of its major peers as the prospect of slower interest-rate increases in the US disappointed greenback bulls.
Finally the rupee ended at 63.73, 38 paise stronger from its previous close of 64.11 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 64.92 and 64.70 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 63.84 and for Euro stood at 72.45 on June 18, 2015. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 51.89, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 100.9971. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
