Indian rupee trimmed some of its initial gains but still ended marginally higher against the American currency on Monday on continued dollar selling by banks and exporters. Sentiments remained positive with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley expressing confidence that there will be no more fiscal slippages as the financial position is likely to be comfortable from the next fiscal. Markets also drew some support with data indicating that the government’s direct tax kitty swelled to Rs 6.95 trillion during the April-January period of the current fiscal, a growth of 19.3% over the year-ago period. Further, a weak dollar in overseas markets along with strong gains in the domestic equity markets also strengthened the rupee sentiment. However, gains were capped as some caution lingered in the market ahead of release of crucial macro-economic data- December IIP data and January CPI, due later today. On the global front, Britain's pound edged up against the dollar on Monday, with a weaker US currency helping sterling rebound from a three-week low reached last week after the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator warned a transition deal was far from assured.
Finally, the rupee ended at 64.31, 8 paise stronger from its previous close of 64.39 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 64.33 and 64.23 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 64.28 and for Euro stood at 78.93 on February 12, 2018. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 59.14, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 89.02. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
