Indian rupee strengthened against dollar in early deals on Monday on the back of sustained selling of the American unit by exporters and the dollar's weakness against some currencies overseas. Furthermore, Reserve bank of India’s (RBI’s) intervention in the Forex markets has provided lot of stability to the Indian rupee. RBI had earlier announced plans of intervening in the exchange traded currency derivative markets as well in order to shield the currency from the volatility and repercussions of US Fed rate hike. But, a lower opening in domestic equity market restricted the gains. On the global front, the dollar drifted lower in light Asian trading on Monday amid doubts about how far and fast the Federal Reserve would raise US interest rates next year.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 66.31, stronger by 9 paise from its previous close of 66.40 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.34 and 66.2750 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 99.1703. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
| Date | 1US$ | 1GBP |
| December 18, 2015 | 66.4235 | 99.1703 |
| December 17, 2015 | 66.6488 | 99.6133 |
(RBI-Reference Rate)
