Indian rupee extending their decline slumped on Thursday, on surge in the US greenback against all the major currencies after the Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen reinforced expectations for a December rate increase. Janet Yellen said she was 'looking forward' to a US interest rate hike, expressing confidence in the US economy. The weakness in the domestic and regional equities too weighed on the rupee sentiments and despite some late recovery the rupee ended near two years low. On the global front, the dollar continued to trade at eight-month highs against the other major currencies on Thursday, though the pound pulled back from almost seven-and-a-half month lows against the broadly stronger dollar on Thursday after data showed that the UK service sector grew better than expected.
Finally, the rupee ended at 66.66, 7 paise weaker against its previous close of 66.59 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.76 and 66.54 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.74 and for Euro stood at 70.66 on December 03, 2015. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 54.08 the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 99.6102. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
