Rising for the fourth straight day, Indian rupee ended stronger against dollar on Friday, owing to dollar sale by exporters and banks. Sentiments remained positive with Finance Minister Piyush Goyal’s statement that the rate cut by the RBI will give a boost to the economy by providing affordable credit to small businesses and homebuyers. The RBI has reduced repo rate (at which RBI lends to banks) by 0.25% to 6.25%, a move that will translate into softening interest rates. Local unit also found some support with report that India has jumped eight places to 36th position on the International Intellectual Property (IP) Index, which analyses the IP climate in 50 global economies, this year. India's eight-point jump in 2019 from 44th position in 2018 is the highest increase among 50 nations mapped by the index. However, dollar’s strength against major global currencies overseas along with the weak trade in the local equity market capped the rupee’s gain. On the global front, Pound came under pressure after Bank of England held rates unchanged and expects the economy to face its weakest economic growth in a decade this year as uncertainty over Brexit mounts and the global economy slows.
Finally, the rupee ended at 71.31, 14 paise stronger from its previous close of 71.45 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 71.44 and 71.03 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 71.29 and for Euro stood at 80.83 on February 08, 2019. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 64.98, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 92.29.
