Indian rupee ended weaker against US dollar on Wednesday, on incremental dollar demand by banks and importers in view of strength of American currency overseas. Sentiments remained dampened with the World Bank pared India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth to 7 percent from its earlier estimate of 7.6 percent on the back of demonetisation of high value currency notes. Furthermore, Fitch Ratings has also downgraded India's rating to 6.9 percent for 2016-17 from the earlier 7.4 percent due to 'uncertainty' over the benefits of demonetisation. However, gains in equity market arrested some of the rupee’s fall. On the global front, dollar gained against the yen on Wednesday ahead of a widely-anticipated press conference by President-elect Donald Trump, it is his first formal session since winning the November 8, 2016 election.
Finally, the rupee ended at 68.33, 15 paise stronger from its previous close of 68.18 on Tuesday. The currency touched a high and low of 68.35 and 68.17 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 68.22 and for Euro stood at 72.32 on January 11, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 58.82, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 82.95.The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
