Snapping two-day winning streak, Indian rupee ended marginally weaker against dollar on Thursday, on fresh demand for the American currency from banks and importers. Sentiments remained weak with a private survey showing that growth in India's dominant services industry came close to stalling in April, as new orders slowed to a trickle, forcing companies to spend more on aggressive advertising campaigns as they fought for business. The Nikkei/IHS Markit Services Purchasing Managers' Index slumped to a three-month low of 50.2 in April from March's 51.5, only slightly above the 50-mark that separates growth from contraction. Besides, dollar’s strength against some other currencies overseas weighed on the sentiments, but a firm domestic equity market cushioned the impact. On the global front, dollar rose to fresh six-week highs against yen on Thursday, boosted by bets for more rate hikes by the Federal Reserve this year, while the euro and sterling rose, lifted by robust service sector reports.
Finally, the rupee ended at 64.17, 2 paise weaker from its previous close of 64.15 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 64.24 and 64.17 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 64.21 and for Euro stood at 69.93 on May 04, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 56.95, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 82.56. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
