Indian rupee extending its weakness for the second straight day, depreciated on Monday due to fresh demand for dollar from banks and importers, ahead of an unscheduled US Federal Reserve meeting later in the day. Besides, losses in local equity market and appreciation in US currency overseas dampened the sentiment of the domestic currency. Investors were cautious as expressing concern over slowdown in the pace of reforms, global rating agency Standard & Poor’s stated that India’s rating could come under stress if government fails to pursue reforms agenda and overshoots fiscal deficit target. On the global front, euro trimmed losses against the dollar on Monday after falling to its lowest levels in seven months overnight as upbeat euro zone private sector survey data lent support.
Finally, the rupee ended at 66.48, 28 paise weaker from its previous close of 66.20 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.48 and 66.24 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.34 and for Euro stood at 70.46 on November 23, 2015. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 53.87 the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 100.664. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
