Indian rupee strengthened against dollar on Monday, on lower trade deficit data and a positive domestic equity market. India’s trade deficit narrowed more-than-expected to $12.96 billion in June as gold imports nearly halved from a month earlier. Some support also came with latest edition of the OECD’s economic outlook report on India stating that economic growth is projected to remain strong and India will remain the fastest growing G20 economy. The local currency also received a boost from a weakness in US greenback against some major currencies overseas. On the global front, dollar was wallowing near 10-month lows on Monday after data showing that China’s economy gained momentum in the second quarter amid lingering doubts over the Federal Reserve’s plans to raise interest rates again this year.
Finally, the rupee ended at 64.35, 9 paise stronger from its previous close of 64.44 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 64.40 and 64.33 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 64.36 and for Euro stood at 73.69 on July 17, 2017. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 57.12, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 84.21. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
