Indian rupee ended marginally higher against dollar on Thursday, due to increased selling of the American currency by exporters and banks. Traders took some support with SBI research report, where it is expecting GDP growth for Q4FY18 to be around 7.6% and the FY18 growth to be at 6.7%. It also said that the GDP growth for Q4 and FY18 is likely to spring a positive surprise. Some support also came with report that India is likely to retain the position of world’s fastest growing major economy in the January-March quarter, surpassing China’s growth of 6.8%, driven by gains in manufacturing and consumer spending. The poll on the latest quarter’s annual growth was 7.3%, the best pace since July-September 2016, the quarter before the government unexpectedly scrapped high-value currency notes. Besides, splendid gains of local equities along with dollar’s slide against some currencies overseas, too supported the rupee. On the global front, euro rallied further on Thursday as Italian parties renewed attempts to form a government, easing concerns about the wider impact of a political crisis in the euro zone’s third-largest economy.
Finally, the rupee ended at 67.40, 3 paise stronger from its previous close of 67.43 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 67.59 and 67.31 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.45 and for Euro stood at 78.79 on May 31, 2018. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 62.04, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 89.79. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
