Indian rupee weakened against dollar in early trade on Monday on month-end demand for the American currency from importers and banks. Besides, lower opening of the domestic equity market too weighed on the rupee. Rupee depreciated further ahead of the Union Budget 2016-17 scheduled to be unveiled by the finance minister Arun Jaitley later in the day. All eyes will be on the government projection of the fiscal deficit for fiscal 2016-17, but markets are also watching announcements surrounding banking and infrastructure reforms. On the global front, dollar took a breather against the yen on Monday following a steep climb on upbeat US data, while reaction to a weekend meeting of G20 policymakers was muted as the outcome produced no major surprises.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 68.63, little changed from its previous close of 68.62 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 68.75 and 68.5750 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 68.77 and for Euro stood at 76.04 on February 26, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 61.03, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 96.0890. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
| Date | 1US$ | 1GBP |
| February 26, 2016 | 68.7775 | 96.0890 |
| February 25, 2016 | 68.5990 | 95.5721 |
(RBI-Reference Rate)
