Indian rupee weakened against US dollar on Thursday amid month-end demand for the American currency from importers and banks, which dragged the domestic unit to nearly two-week low. Rupee fell further owing to concerns that the government’s additional borrowing this fiscal may lead to a breach of the fiscal deficit target. The government had yesterday said it has decided to make an additional borrowing of Rs 50,000 crore this fiscal through dated securities, a move that may put burden on the fiscal deficit target of 3.2 percent of GDP. However, a Finance Ministry statement also said there will be no change in net borrowing as envisaged in the Budget for 2017-18. On the global front, the dollar was on the defensive on Thursday, hampered by a recent dip in US 10-year bond yields, while commodity-linked currencies were bolstered by this week’s rally in metals and oil prices.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 64.18, weaker by 3 paise from its previous close of 64.15 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 64.2800 and 64.1600 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 64.15 and for Euro stood at 76.22 on December 27, 2017. While the RBI's reference rate for the Yen stood at 56.68, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 85.83. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
| Date | 1US$ | 1GBP |
| December 27, 2017 | 64.1577 | 85.8366 |
| December 26, 2017 | 64.0538 | 85.6720 |
(RBI-Reference Rate)
