Indian rupee snapping its four days gaining streak gave up some gains on Thursday on the back of dollar demand by importers, mainly the oil marketing companies to meet their month end demand. Also there was report of speculated Reserve Bank of India (RBI) intervention and it was said that the apex bank bought dollars near the crucial psychological level of 60 to boost its reserve that prevented the rupee from strengthening further. Though, the domestic equity markets continued their bull run and scaled their fresh all time highs but the mixed trade in regional currencies weighed on the sentiments. On the global front the dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major global currencies remained flat, while the pound climbed for a fourth day versus the dollar on report of rise in UK retail sales in February.
Finally, the rupee ended at 60.32, weaker by 16 paise from its previous close of 60.16 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 60.36 and 60.12 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 60.12 and for Euro stood at 82.90 on March 27, 2014. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 58.81, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 99.6466. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
