Indian rupee, after making a good start, gave away most of its gains but managed to end marginally higher against dollar on Monday, due to sustained selling of the US currency by exporters and banks. Local currency got some support with the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) president Sandip Somany’s statement that agricultural reforms, interest rate cut and credit availability to micro, small and medium enterprises will drive India’s economic growth to 7.5-7.6% in 2019-20. He added that the economy is on a good footing. However, local unit cut most of the early gains, as anxiety remained among the traders with the RBI warned that a sudden surge in crude prices can upset the country’s key macro-stability parameters, as it can sharply spike the current account deficit (CAD), inflation and the fiscal numbers, whittling the benefits of higher growth. On the global front, dollar fell for a third consecutive day against its rivals on Monday on growing bets the U.S. central bank will press the pause button on its rate hike cycle in the coming months.
Finally, the rupee ended at 69.68, 4 paise stronger from its previous close of 69.72 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 69.93 and 69.23 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 69.48 and for Euro stood at 79.38 on January 7, 2019. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 64.21, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 88.59.
