Indian rupee strengthened against the US dollar on Friday on account of fresh selling of American currency by banks and exporters. Besides, dollar's weakness against other currencies overseas after Fed Chair Janet Yellen indicated the central bank would take a wait-and-see approach to monetary policy, suggesting any rate hikes this year could be slow, too supported the rupee. Though, domestic equity markets opened in the red following weak global cues and capped the gain. On the global front, the dollar lost momentum on Friday as US Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen spoke of a gradual pace of rate hikes and sounded less hawkish than some had expected, while investors braced for U.S. President-elect Donald Trump to be sworn in.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 68.10, stronger by 2 paise from its previous close of 68.12 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 68.1075 and 68.03 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 68.17 and for Euro stood at 72.51on January 19, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 59.48, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 83.69.The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
| Date | 1US$ | 1GBP |
| January 19, 2017 | 68.1766 | 83.6936 |
| January 18, 2017 | 67.9364 | 83.8403 |
(RBI-Reference Rate)
