Indian rupee strengthened for second consecutive session on Tuesday despite weak local equities, mainly on account of weakness of dollar index against the basket of other major currencies. Local currency got some support with Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council reaching a consensus on the contentious dual control issue preparing ground for the rollout of the biggest tax reform from July 1, 2017. However, there was some cautiousness too with report that International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut India’s economic growth estimate for 2016-17 to 6.6% from its earlier projection of 7.6% due to the impact of the government's move of demonetization of high value currency notes in early November. On the global front, pound steadied against dollar ahead of a speech by Prime Minister Theresa May later in the day on the UK’s priorities regarding Brexit.
Finally, the rupee ended at 67.96, 13 paise stronger from its previous close of 68.09 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 68.13 and 67.95 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 68.05 and for Euro stood at 72.50 on January 17, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 59.98, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 82.45.The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
