Extending its gains for the third-straight-day, Indian rupee ended stronger against dollar due to selling of American currency by banks and exporters. Besides, smart rally in the local equity markets and dollar's weakness against some currencies overseas also added to the positive milieu. The domestic currency got support with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley's Budget speech on Monday, where he announced budgetary support for export sectors while sticking to fiscal prudence path. Some support also came with the report that the growth in the eight core sectors jumped to a three-month high of 2.9 per cent in January due to sharp pick-up in coal, cement and electricity generation. On the global front, euro hit its lowest in almost three years against the yen on Tuesday, as data from the region's big economies bolstered the case for another strong dose of ECB stimulus next week.
Finally, the rupee ended at 67.87, 54 paise stronger from its previous close of 68.41 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 68.36 and 67.86 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 68.15 and for Euro stood at 74.21 on March 01, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 60.50, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 95.0395. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
