Indian rupee ended marginally higher against dollar on Monday on selling of the US currency by exporters and banks, amid mixed cues from other Asian markets. Besides, smart rally in the equity market too supported the domestic currency. This is the eighth consecutive session that saw rupee trading higher. The sentiments remained on up-beat note with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that structural reforms including GST, rationalizing direct taxes and ease of doing business are among top priorities for New Year. Some support also came with the report that the India could become the world’s third largest economy after 2030 and its ascension could see France and Italy kicked out of the exclusive G8 group or its membership increased to 10 to accommodate India and Brazil. On the global front, dollar moved away from a two-month low against the yen today, following downbeat Japanese economic data in holiday-thinned trading.
Finally, the rupee ended at 66.20, 1 paise stronger against its previous close of 66.21 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.22 and 66.09 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.13 and for Euro stood at 72.55 on December 28, 2015. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 54.92 the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 98.6911. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
