Indian rupee appreciated against dollar on Friday, on increased selling of the American currency amid continued foreign inflows. Sentiments remained positive with Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das’ statement that the GST will give a boost to the real economy at the expense of the parallel shadow economy and the indirect tax regime would raise gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 1.5-2 percentage points. Some support also came with private report that India has the highest consumer confidence score among the eight emerging markets surveyed -- Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Russia, South Africa and Turkey. However, dollar held strong against other currencies overseas along with weak trade in domestic equity market kept pressure on the local currency. On the global front, dollar edged up on Friday and was on track for its strongest week in seven with an almost 1 per cent rise, benefiting from a weaker euro as solid US economic data has contrasted with cooling euro zone inflation.
Finally, the rupee ended at 64.85, 7 paise stronger from its previous close of 64.92 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 64.98 and 64.79 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 64.83 and for Euro stood at 69.24 on March 31, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 57.96, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 80.87.The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
