Indian rupee strengthened against the US dollar on Thursday amid weakness in the greenback after the US Federal Reserve hiked interest rate by 25 bps on Wednesday. Further, persistent inflows of foreign funds too supported the domestic unit. As per the provisional data, on a net basis, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 98.44 crore. On the global front, the dollar struggled against its peers on Thursday after the Federal Reserve indicated it was more likely to raise interest rate three times in 2018 instead of the four that some currency bulls had hoped for. The central bank’s Chairman Jerome Powell forecast a steeper path of rate hikes in 2019 and 2020, citing improving economic outlook.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 65.10, stronger by 11 paise from its previous close of 65.21 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 65.1400 and 65.0800 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 65.21 and for Euro stood at 79.96 on March 21, 2018. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 61.28, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 91.32. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
| Date | 1US$ | 1GBP |
| March 21, 2018 | 65.2162 | 91.3288 |
| March 20, 2018 | 65.1993 | 91.4942 |
(RBI-Reference Rate)
