Indian rupee ended marginally weaker against the US dollar on Wednesday due to fresh demand for the American currency from banks and importers. Traders remained cautious ahead of the release of Federal Reserve minutes to gauge when policymakers will raise interest rates again and for more US economic data including February’s payrolls data. However, downside remained capped as traders got some support with a private report stating that India's millennial population is a massive disruptive force and driven by this supportive demographics along with government's policy action, Indian economy is likely to reach $5 trillion by 2025. On the global front, yen was stronger against dollar on Wednesday, supported by comments from Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda who said that the chance of negative rates is low in the near future.
Finally, the rupee ended at 66.96, 4 paise weaker from its previous close of 66.92 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 67.00 and 66.87 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.96 and for Euro stood at 70.54 on February 22, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 58.98, 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.
