Snapping its two-days losing streak, Indian rupee bounced back against dollar on Wednesday due to selling of American currency by banks and exporters. Besides, equity markets which turned positive at the end of the session also buttressed the domestic currency. However, gains remained capped with the report that Indian exports dipped 5.66% in February to $20,738.60 million, against $21,983.43 million in February 2015, due to contraction in shipments of petroleum and engineering goods amid tepid global demand. Meanwhile investors maintained a cautious approach awaiting the outcome of the two-day US Federal Reserve policy meet later in the day to provide guidance on the risk of US rate hikes this year. On the global front, yen came under pressure after Bank of Japan Gov. Haruhiko Kuroda commented that he sees more room to cut interest rate even further into negative territory.
Finally, the rupee ended at 67.25, 14 paise stronger from its previous close of 67.39 on Tuesday. The currency touched a high and low of 67.44 and 67.21 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.36 and for Euro stood at 74.75 on March 16, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 59.40, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 95.1708. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai
