Indian rupee ended weaker against dollar on Friday on bouts of continued dollar demand from importers and banks. Besides, cautiousness ahead of key economic data from the US due later in the day and domestic growth data due on 8 February also pressurized the domestic unit. There was some cautiousness with a survey conducted by the Reserve Bank of India stating that Indian households expect inflation at over 10 percent in the year ahead, twice as much as RBI's retail inflation target of 5 percent by March 2017. Investors failed to get comfort with India Ratings’ report that the Indian economy may have expanded by 7.6% in the third quarter that ended in December 2015. However, gains in domestic equity market capped some rupee losses. On the global front, Yen edged higher versus many currency rivals, such as the US Dollar, as many traders predict positive Japanese growth in response to negative rates.
Finally, the rupee ended at 67.65, 9 paise weaker from its previous close of 67.56 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 67.72 and 67.58 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.63 and for Euro stood at 75.73 on February 05, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 57.91, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 98.4720. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
