Indian rupee ended marginally stronger against the US dollar on the last trading day of the week due to selling of greenback by banks and importers. Domestic currency got some support with Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel’s statement that India is at a ‘good place’ in terms of financial stability and the central bank will manage any sharp volatility in the markets arising out of global developments including concerns over U.S. President Donald Trump's protectionist policies. Furthermore, Minister of State for Finance Arjun Ram Meghwal added the confidence among participants by saying demonetisation of old high value currency and the government’s push towards digital economy will definitely expand India’s GDP. Besides, positive gains in the equity market along with dollar struggled against some other currencies overseas too supported the rupee. On the global front, pound slipped against dollar for the first time in several weeks after a troublingly poor set of retail sales figures.
Finally, the rupee ended at 67.02, 5 paise stronger from its previous close of 67.07 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 67.15 and 66.98 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.04 and for Euro stood at 71.50 on February 17, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 59.15, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 83.76.The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
