Rupee prolongs previous session’s weakness on India’s rating downgrade fears

03 Sep 2013 Evaluate

Indian rupee, prolonging previous session’s slide, weakened sharply against dollar on Tuesday, tracing close to four percent cut in Indian equity markets, after Standard and Poor’s (S&P) underscored that the chances of India’s rating downgrade remain and are 'higher' than other emerging markets such as Indonesia. The global rating agency also warned that India’s sovereign rating faces more than one in-three chance to be downgraded to the junk status within next two years. Covering up of dollar positions on renewed fears of a rating downgrade of India, pressurized the sentiment. The currency also lost ground on account of increased dollar demand from oil importers and bank, in view of its strength in the overseas markets. Meanwhile cautious approach of investors anxiously waiting for any fresh measures over the defense of rupee, with Raghuram Rajan taking over the reins of RBI as the new governor on September 5, added to the negatives. On the global front, euro fell to a 1-1/2 month low against a firmer dollar on Tuesday, weighed by expectations that the European Central Bank will reiterate its pledge to keep interest rates low to support a nascent recovery. Meanwhile, the dollar regained poise helped by a rise in U.S. yields.

Finally, the rupee ended at 67.65, weaker by Rs 1.63 paise from its previous close of 66.02 on Monday. The currency has touched a high and low of 68.27 and 66.25 respectively.  The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.88 and for Euro it stood at 88.09 on September 03, 2013. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 67.18, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 103.9499. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.

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