Indian rupee ended marginally higher against dollar on Tuesday due to sustained selling of the US currency by exporters and banks. Sentiments remained positive, as retail inflation as well as industrial output data served to bolster expectations of a rate cut by the RBI. Data released late on Monday showed consumer inflation easing to 2.18% in May, helped by a drop in food prices - the lowest since India started publishing an economy-wide consumer price index in 2012. Besides, India’s industrial production grew by 3.1 percent in April 2017, as compared to 2.7 percent in the month of March 2017 and against a drop of 1.2 percent in February 2017. The growth was due to good performance of electricity, mining and manufacturing sectors. On the global front, dollar gained against yen ahead of a two-day US Federal Reserve meeting that is likely to provide hints on the central bank’s interest rate policy for the remainder of the year.
Finally, the rupee ended at 64.34, 10 paise stronger from its previous close of 64.44 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 64.49 and 64.33 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 64.44 and for Euro stood at 72.14 on June 13, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 58.59, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 81.74. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
