Indian rupee weakened marginally against the US dollar on Friday, on account of dollar’s firmness in overseas markets ahead of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell speech at the annual global central bank conference in Jackson Hole later in the day. Meanwhile, the US and Chinese officials ended two days of trade talks without any major breakthroughs. The talks between the two nations ended as their trade war escalated on Thursday after a new round of US tariffs kicked in on $16 billion worth of imports from China, followed immediately by reciprocal tariffs from China. Further, increased demand for the American currency from importers and banks and weak trade in domestic equity indices too added pressure on rupee.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 70.13, weaker by 2 paise from its previous close of 70.11 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 70.2400 and 70.0600 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 70.06 and for Euro stood at 81.04 on August 23, 2018. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 63.21, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 90.25. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
