Caught in a downward spiral for the third straight session, Indian rupee ended considerably weaker against the US dollar on Monday, on increased selling of the US currency by exporters and banks. Sentiments remained dampened with report that India’s October-December current account deficit sharply widened from a year earlier on higher imports. The October-December current account deficit widened to 2.0 percent of gross domestic product, or $13.5 billion, compared with 1.4 percent, or $8.0 billion, in the same period a year ago. The fall in the rupee was also triggered by dollar’s strength against major global currencies overseas along with extremely bearish local equity markets. On the global front, the dollar edged higher against a basket of rivals on Monday after posting four consecutive weeks of gains as financial markets braced for the first rate hike of the year from the US Federal Reserve.
Finally, the rupee ended at 65.17, 23 paise weaker from its previous close of 64.94 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 65.18 and 65.00 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 65.03 and for Euro stood at 79.77 on March 19, 2018. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 61.50, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 90.55. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
