Indian rupee strengthened against the US dollar on Monday after the greenback came under pressure as US President Donald Trump’s comments raised concerns of a global trade war. Trump on Friday said trade wars were good and easy to win. His plan to put tariffs on steel and aluminium imports triggered negative sentiments across overseas markets. Further, foreign capital inflows in the domestic equity markets too supported the rupee. Foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 241.85 crore on net basis on Thursday as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Markets were closed on Friday due to Holi. On the global front, the euro clawed back earlier losses on Monday but remained prone to volatility as early counts in Italian elections pointed to stronger-than-expected results for euroskeptic parties, with no major party blocs winning an outright majority.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 65.04, stronger by 11 paise from its previous close of 65.15 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 65.0800 and 64.8200 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 65.22 and for Euro stood at 79.50 on March 01, 2018. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 61.07, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 89.70. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
| Date | 1US$ | 1GBP |
| March 01, 2018 | 65.2261 | 89.7055 |
| February 28, 2018 | 65.1031 | 90.4477 |
(RBI-Reference Rate)
