Indian rupee ended weaker against dollar on Thursday with fresh dollar demand by banks and importers. Sentiments got hit with former Deputy Governor of RBI Viral Acharya’s statement that revising up inflation bands for the central bank will hurt the poor. He also said India has to devise ways of pushing up growth in a structural manner and not by ‘pump-priming’ measures like easy credit and easy liquidity. Traders shrugged of reports that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) raised the growth forecast for India in the current fiscal year to minus 8 percent from the minus 9 percent projection in September while keeping the outlook for the next fiscal year at 8 percent. Besides, losses in the local equity market also dampened sentiments. On the global front; euro stood its ground on Thursday ahead of the European Central Bank unveiling fresh stimulus measures, while sterling fell after post-Brexit trade talks were extended until the weekend in pursuit of an ever elusive breakthrough.
Finally, the rupee ended at 73.66, 9 paise weaker from its previous close of 73.57 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 73.77 and 73.62 respectively. The reference rate for the dollar stood at 73.58, and for Euro stood 89.36 on December 09, 2020. While the reference rate for the Yen stood at 70.65, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 98.54.
