Snapping two days of depreciating streak, Indian rupee ended significantly higher against dollar on Thursday, on persistent selling of the American currency by exporters. Sentiments got boost with survey report that the Indian manufacturing sector strengthened further in the month of October, on account of stronger order inflows and job creation. The Nikkei India Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) - a composite single-figure indicator of manufacturing performance - improved to 53.1 in October from 52.2 in September. Some comfort also came with report that India jumped 23 spots in the World Bank’s ease of doing business ranking to 77th place, becoming the top ranked country in South Asia for the first time and third among the BRICS. As per the report, the biggest gain was in construction permit where India climbed 129 ranks to 52nd place on the back of targeted government effort to remove hurdles. Besides, the dollar losing muscle against other currencies overseas helped the domestic currency rebound. On the global front, euro rallied half a per cent on Thursday as currencies hit hard by recent dollar buying surged higher in a more positive mood for risk-taking.
Finally, the rupee ended at 73.45, 50 paise stronger from its previous close of 73.95 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 73.88 and 73.45 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 73.82 and for Euro stood at 83.72 on November 1, 2018. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 65.40, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 94.81. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
