Rupee strengthens close to two and half months high; breaches ‘54/$’ mark on Friday

19 Jan 2013 Evaluate

Indian rupee, protracting previous session’s euphoria, strengthened close to two and half months high level to conclude sub ‘54/$’ mark on Friday, on account of sparkling gains of local equities after Oil Marketing Companies (OMC’s) hiked the price of diesel by 45 paise excluding taxes, a move that could help the government reduce its vast subsidy bill. Meanwhile, based on the current prices and volumes, the decrease in the under-recoveries on annual basis on HSD (diesel) shall be approximately Rs 15,000 crore for OMCs (oil marketing companies) as a whole, a key positive for Indian currency. Besides, Indian currency surged was also supported by sustained selling of dollars by banks and exporters, broad gains in other Asian currencies on account of risk-on mood in global markets. Meanwhile, dollar retreated from a 31-month high against the yen on Friday as investors took profit on its steep rise before expected aggressive policy easing next week by the Bank of Japan.

Finally the rupee ended at 53.70, stronger by 69 paise from its previous close of 54.39 on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 54.16 and 53.70 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at Rs 53.94 and for Euro it stood at Rs 72.20 on January 18, 2013. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 59.91, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 86.2416. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.

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