Indian rupee strengthened against dollar in early deals on Thursday on increased selling of the American currency by exporters. Besides, a higher opening in the domestic equity markets also supported the rupee. Furthermore, RBI’s intervention in the Forex markets has also stabilized the domestic unit to a certain extent. Though, the dollar’s rise against other currencies overseas after the American central bank hiked interest rates by 25 basis points (bps) for the first time in nearly a decade, capped the gains. On the global front, the dollar rose against the yen and Swiss franc as the first US interest rate hike in nine years coaxed investors to emerge from safe-haven currencies, but traders said hurdles - some psychological - lay in wait before any lasting gain.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 66.65, stronger by 8 paise from its previous close of 66.73 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.6750 and 66.5950 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.84 and for Euro stood at 73.15 on December 16, 2015. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 54.84 the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 100.5777. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
| Date | 1US$ | 1GBP |
| December 16, 2015 | 66.8468 | 100.5777 |
| December 15, 2015 | 67.0435 | 101.6715 |
(RBI-Reference Rate)
