Indian rupee ended considerably stronger against dollar on Thursday, on increased selling of the American currency by exporters and banks. The domestic currency was in the positive terrain from the very beginning supported by the positive gains in the local equity market. Sentiments remained up-beat with the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) predicting a ‘normal’ monsoon this calendar and expecting 100 percent rainfall instead of 96 percent as predicted earlier. It has said that recent development on El-Nino indicates that the monsoon could be normal this year and it could reach 100 percent of the long period average. Besides, investors remained cautious ahead of key economic data -industrial production (IIP) and consumer price index (CPI) scheduled to be released tomorrow. On the global front, pound dropped against dollar as investors reacted to news of falling industrial production in Britain and a widening of the country's trade deficit.
Finally, the rupee ended at 64.37, 25 paise stronger from its previous close of 64.62 on Tuesday. The currency touched a high and low of 64.57 and 64.33 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 64.43 and for Euro stood at 70.14 on May 11, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 56.48, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 83.41. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
