Indian rupee weakened against the US dollar on Friday amid strong demand for the American currency. Traders were cautious with the Controller General of Accounts’ (CGA) data showing that the fiscal deficit of the Central government has widened in the first half of 2018-19 to 95.3% of the Budget Estimate (BE), mainly on account of slow growth in revenue collections. The deficit was at 91.3% of BE at September-end of the last financial year. Further, weakness in domestic equities too added pressure on the rupee. On the global front, Japanese yen strengthened versus US dollar on Friday as appetite for riskier assets remained suppressed while the euro stayed near two-month lows after the European Central Bank failed to convince markets that rates would rise.
The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 73.42, weaker by 15 paise from its previous close of 73.27 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 73.4575 and 73.3600 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 73.27 and for Euro stood at 83.64 on October 25, 2018. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 65.33, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 94.61. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
| Date | 1US$ | 1GBP |
| October 25, 2018 | 73.2746 | 94.6190 |
| October 24, 2018 | 73.2645 | 95.0529 |
(Reference Rate)
