Indian rupee strengthened against dollar in early deals on Monday on increased selling of the American currency by banks and exporters. Further, a higher opening in the domestic equity market too added support to domestic currency. However, some gains were capped due to the US dollar's strength against other currencies overseas as key Federal Reserve official's remarks helped keep traders' bets on an early US interest rate hike alive despite disappointing US jobs data. Report showed that the US economy added 160,000 jobs during April, much lower than the reading of 208,000 jobs during the prior month. Unemployment remained steady at 5%. Nevertheless, positive part of the employment story is that the US economy has been able to create jobs for 74 months and there has been improvement in wages albeit moderate.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 66.42, stronger by 13 paise from its previous close of 66.55 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.5150 and 66.39 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.58 and for Euro stood at 75.93 on May 06, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 62.13, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 96.3456. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
| Date | 1US$ | 1GBP |
| May 06, 2016 | 66.5830 | 96.3456 |
| May 05, 2016 | 66.5105 | 96.5865 |
(RBI-Reference Rate)
