Indian rupee extended its weakness for the second straight day against dollar on Friday due to increased demand for American currency from banks and importers, tracking losses in the Asian currencies market. Investors overlooked Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) President Shobana Kamineni's statement that India can achieve a gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 10 percent by fiscal year 2019-20 on the back of tremendous opportunities available in the economy. Besides, firm dollar against some global currencies overseas and massive losses of domestic equity markets too kept home currency under intense pressure. On the global front, dollar fell to a six-month low against euro on Friday as investors took a cautious approach ahead of the French election and the latest U.S. jobs data.
Finally, the rupee ended at 64.37, 20 paise weaker from its previous close of 64.17 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 64.38 and 64.22 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 64.30 and for Euro stood at 70.59 on May 05, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 57.37, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 83.13. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
