India rupee ended substantially weaker against dollar on Thursday due to strong demand for the American unit from importers and banks. Despite dollar's weakness against the basket of major currencies overseas, the domestic currency fell below the crucial 68-mark. The massive sell off in the Indian and global markets also added to pessimistic environment. Meanwhile, investors remained cautious ahead of the release of Retail inflation and IIP data on February 12. Further sentiments got undermined with the report that India continues to report over 7 per cent GDP growth, but its momentum has weakened and the country's growth is well ‘below trend’. On the global front, the dollar hit a 15-month low against the yen after comments from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen gave investors no reason to change their minds that the next rate hike will be a long time coming.
Finally, the rupee ended at 68.30, 45 paise weaker from its previous close of 67.85 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 68.34 and 67.90 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 68.01 and for Euro stood at 76.84 on February 11, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 60.54, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 98.8061. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
