Exhibiting strength against the dollar for the third straight day, Indian rupee ended higher on Thursday on continued selling of the greenback. Sentiments remained up-beat with private report stating that waning effects from the Goods and Services Tax (GST) impact will help push the Indian GDP growth to 7% in FY19. The report added that the growth has slid from previous year’s 7.1% to 6.5% in FY18 due to the implementation of the GST. But as some of the short-run disruptions caused by GST got ironed out, the firm expects growth to rise in the next couple of years. Besides, a muted show by the greenback against other currencies overseas also influenced the rupee uptrend. On the global front, the euro steadied at a three-year high on Thursday as traders waited to see if the European Central Bank would try to cool the currency's hottest run in nearly four years.
Finally, the rupee ended at 63.54, 15 paise stronger from its previous close of 63.69 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 63.64 and 63.10 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 63.49 and for Euro stood at 79.06 on January 25, 2018. While the RBI's reference rate for the Yen stood at 58.36, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 90.91. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
