Rising for the third straight day, Indian rupee ended marginally higher against dollar on Friday due to sustained selling of the US currency by exporters and banks. Domestic currency got some support with NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Arvind Panagariya's statement that India will regain the crown of the fastest growing major economy, overtaking China, as early as the first quarter of 2017-18. He said that India, on an annual basis, is ahead of China and will regain the growth momentum soon on the back of host of reforms initiated by the Modi government in the last three years. Besides, dollar's weakness against some other currencies overseas and a firm domestic equity market backed up the rupee. On the global front, dollar hit a one-week high against the yen on Friday after upbeat U.S. private sector job figures, while the closely-watched non-farm payrolls report out later in the global day could provide another boost.
Finally, the rupee ended at 64.43, 4 paise stronger from its previous close of 64.47 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 64.50 and 64.34 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 64.42 and for Euro stood at 72.26 on June 02, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 57.72, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 82.92. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
