Indian rupee ended marginally lower against US dollar on Wednesday, due to fresh demand for the American currency from banks and importers. Traders remained cautious with a report that India has moved down 10 places to rank 68th on an annual global competitiveness index, largely due to improvements witnessed by several other economies, while Singapore has replaced the US as the world’s most competitive economy. However, weakening of the US dollar vis-a-vis other currencies overseas and easing crude oil prices supported the domestic unit and restricted the fall. On the global front, dollar slipped against the safe-haven Japanese yen on Wednesday amid renewed trade-related worries and as an unexpected drop in US producer inflation supported the case for the Federal Reserve room to cut interest rates again later this month.
Finally, the rupee ended at 71.07, 5 paise weaker from its previous close of 71.02 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 71.22 and 70.94 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 70.97 and for Euro stood at 77.92 on October 7, 2019. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 66.41, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 87.41.
