Indian rupee extended its gaining streak for the fourth straight session against dollar on Friday on dollar selling by banks and exporters. However, weak trade in the equity market capped the rupee gains. Investors overlooked the government’s Mid-year Economic Review authored by Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian who stated that the Indian economy is likely to grow at 7-7.5 percent in fiscal 2015-16 while retail inflation is expected at 6 percent. On the global front, dollar sank as much as half a percent against a basket of major currencies on Friday, due to a resurgence of the yen after the Bank of Japan opted for tweaks rather than an outright expansion of its monthly asset purchase target.
Finally, the rupee ended at 66.40, 2 paise stronger against its previous close of 66.42 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.52 and 66.31 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.42 and for Euro stood at 72.13 on December 18, 2015. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 54.48 the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 99.6133. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
