Indian rupee extending its weakness depreciated on Monday due to dollar demand from banks and importers amid weak equities and dollar's strength against other currencies overseas. Rupee was strong in the early deals but lost its momentum in the end. The sentiments were under pressure despite government-appointed panel headed by chief economic adviser Arvind Subramanian suggested a standard GST rate of 17-18 percent. The circumspect mood could also be attributed to caution as the better-than-expected US employment data for November, paving the way for a rise in the interest rate mid-December. On the global front, dollar recovered more ground after last week's loss against the euro, strengthened by jobs data on Friday that boosted an expectation for a rise in U.S. interest rates this month.
Finally, the rupee ended at 66.73, 4 paise weaker against its previous close of 66.69 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.75 and 66.56 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.62 and for Euro stood at 72.40 on December 07, 2015. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 54.05 the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 100.6524. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
