Indian rupee appreciated on Monday, maintaining its upward trend for the ninth straight day on sustained selling of the US currency by exporters and banks and also tracking the gains in its Asian peers. Local currency got some support with Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das’ statement expressing confidence that the economy will grow upwards of 7 per cent next fiscal. He reiterated that there will be transient impact of demonetisation on the economy, but it will not spill over to the next fiscal. Besides, positive gains in the domestic equity market along with dollar struggled against some other currencies overseas too gave the rupee an upper hand. Meanwhile, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) will meet on Wednesday for its bi-month policy, whereby according to polls it is likely to cut the policy rate by a quarter percentage point. On the global front, dollar slipped against yen on Monday after US data showed a smaller-than-expected rise in wages in January that reinforced expectations the Federal Reserve will refrain from raising interest rates next month.
Finally, the rupee ended at 67.22, 9 paise stronger from its previous close of 67.31 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 67.23 and 67.14 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.19 and for Euro stood at 72.40 on February 06, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 59.73, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 83.92.The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
