Indian rupee depreciated for the second consecutive session against the US dollar amid month-end dollar demand from importers. Sentiments remained dampened with the private report that the Reserve Bank of India may not be able to achieve its medium term target of 4% inflation, even if food prices are managed, as health and education prices could play spoil sport. Traders failed to get any sense of relief with report that more than 1,300 new foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) have registered with capital markets regulator SEBI in April-August of 2016-17, showing a sign of their willingness to be part of India’s growth story. On the global front, dollar held steady near a three-month high against the yen on Thursday, as rises in US bond yields and expectations for the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this year helped underpin the greenback.
Finally, the rupee ended at 66.87, 5 paise weaker from its previous close of 66.82 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.93 and 66.85 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.88 and for Euro stood at 72.93 on October 27, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 63.93, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 81.69.The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
