Indian rupee ended weaker against dollar on Thursday on account of sustained demand for dollar from banks and importers. Sentiments remained dampened with the US thinktank report stating that India ranked a dismal 143 in an annual index of economic freedom, behind its several South Asian neighbours, as progress on market-oriented reforms has been uneven. It also said that despite India sustaining an average annual growth of about 7 per cent over the past five years, growth is not deeply rooted in policies that preserve economic freedom. However, gains of local equities coupled with dollar’s weakness against the basket of other major currencies limited further depreciation of Indian currency. On the global front, yen was stronger against its rival currencies on Thursday, as weakness in Tokyo stocks prompted investors to seek the perceived safety of the Japanese currency.
Finally, the rupee ended at 67.07, 16 paise weaker from its previous close of 66.91 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 67.09 and 66.91 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.94 and for Euro stood at 71.02 on February 16, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 58.75, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 83.43.The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
