Indian rupee appreciated for the second consecutive session on Monday as Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the government would stick to its fiscal deficit target of 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product for the 2016-17 year. Besides, dollar sales by banks and exporters also supported the domestic currency. Investors further got some support with Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian’s statement that India is expected to accelerate to 8-10 percent growth rate in two to five years on account of structure reforms and encouraging competitive federalism. Investors even ignored the losses in the local equity market. On the global front, yen advanced against dollar, after a slump in stocks renewed demand for the currency as a haven.
Finally, the rupee ended at 68.41, 21 paise stronger from its previous close of 68.62 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 68.75 and 68.35 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 68.61 and for Euro stood at 75.07 on February 29, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 60.78, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 95.1978. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
