Indian rupee ended stronger against dollar on Monday, due to increased selling of the American currency by exporters. Sentiments remained up-beat with Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan’s statement that India’s gross domestic product (GDP) will achieve 8% growth and continue its momentum for the next financial year, even after demonetising about 85% of all currency in circulation last November. Some support also came with the report that foreign investments in the services sector increased 77.6 percent to $7.55 billion in the first nine months of the current fiscal, helped by government steps to improve ease of doing business. Besides, good going in the local equity markets and dollar’s weakness overseas against a basket of major currencies, mainly aided the currency’s appreciation. On the global front, Yen was trading higher in Asian session on risk aversion as North Korea fired four ballistic missiles into nearby waters.
Finally, the rupee ended at 66.71, 10 paise stronger from its previous close of 66.81 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.76 and 66.69 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.75 and for Euro stood at 70.73 on March 6, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 58.67, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 81.97.The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
