Indian rupee weakened against dollar on Thursday on account of buying of American currency by banks and importers. Besides, dollar’s strength against other currencies overseas also pulled down the rupee. Furthermore, the domestic equity market opened in the red following mixed global cues, too weighing down the domestic currency. On the global front, the dollar stood tall on higher US Treasury yields on Thursday, after a surge in US private-sector jobs in February cemented expectations the Federal Reserve will raise rates next week. The ADP National Employment Report showed on Wednesday that private payrolls grew by 298,000 jobs last month, the largest increase since December 2015. The gain was well above expectations for a 190,000 increase.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 66.80, weaker by 10 paise from its previous close of 66.70 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.86 and 66.7925 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.63 and for Euro stood at 70.40 on March 8, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 58.61, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 81.31. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
| Date | 1US$ | 1GBP |
| March 08, 2017 | 66.6362 | 81.3162 |
| March 07, 2017 | 66.6347 | 81.5342 |
(RBI-Reference Rate)
