Indian rupee ended higher against the dollar on Tuesday, with the American currency coming under heavy selling by banks and exporters. Sentiment got up-beat with the private report highlighting brighter growth prospects for India by FY20 and beyond. The report also stated that India’s growth prospect is likely to see a slowdown in the next two years followed by recovery in the medium term, with 2019-20 GDP expected at around 7.6%. Optimism remained among the investors with Union Finance Ministry’s latest report stating that overall fundamentals of the economy remained strong in the current financial year, on the back of firm macroeconomic indicators, improvement in World Bank's ease of doing business ranking and sovereign rating upgrade by Moody’s. Besides, gains in the local equity markets for the four consecutive sessions along with dollar’s slide against some currencies overseas, too supported the rupee surge. On the global front, euro rose slightly against dollar on Tuesday, as investors took a cautious view over how much tax reforms, if passed, would boost the US economy.
Finally, the rupee ended at 64.03, 20 paise stronger from its previous close of 64.23 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 64.22 and 63.94 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 64.12 and for Euro stood at 75.63 on December 19, 2017. While the RBI's reference rate for the Yen stood at 56.98, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 85.79. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
