Indian rupee ended stronger against dollar on Thursday, due to selling of greenback by banks and exporters. Sentiments got a boost with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s statement that the Q3 GDP data was substantially impacted by demonetization, adding that Indian economic growth is likely to pick up further in coming quarters and that GDP number belies exaggerated claim by many that rural sector was in distress. Some optimism also came with Moody's Investors Service’s report that demonetisation will be credit positive for India as it is likely to reduce tax avoidance and corruption. Besides, some positive gains in the domestic equity market and robust GDP numbers for the December quarter also lifted the rupee sentiments. On the global front, dollar gained against yen and euro, after the latest hawkish remarks from a Federal Reserve official further fueled expectation that the next U.S. rate increase will come at the Fed's March policy meeting.
Finally, the rupee ended at 66.71, 11 paise stronger from its previous close of 66.82 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.78 and 66.68 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.74 and for Euro stood at 70.30 on March 2, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 58.50, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 81.98.The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
