Indian rupee weakened against the US dollar on Friday, due to increased demand for the American currency from importers amid sustained foreign capital outflows. Further, the dollar's gains against other currencies overseas also influenced the rupee sentiment. However, a higher opening of the domestic equity market, capped the rupee's losses. On the global front, the dollar firmed against a basket of currencies on Friday and hit a more than 14-month high against the yuan, with markets gripped by worries over escalating trade tensions between the United States and China. China vowed on Thursday to retaliate if the US acted on a threat to raise tariffs on the Asian nation’s exports, after US President Donald Trump instructed his trade officials to look at increasing tariffs to 25 percent from 10 percent on $200 billion in Chinese imports into the US.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 68.73, weaker by 2 paise from its previous close of 68.71 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 68.7700 and 68.6650 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 68.35 and for Euro stood at 79.57 on August 2, 2018. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 61.23, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 89.52. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
