Rupee weakens against dollar in early trade on Wednesday

Indian rupee weakened against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday after foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to liquidate their investment in the local equity market. Further, buying of US currency by importers and gains in dollar against major global currencies as signs of a pickup in US inflation reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates, too weighed on domestic unit. All eyes would now be on the minutes of the October 27-28 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) policy meet that are scheduled to be released on Thursday. On the global front, the dollar sat near a 7-month high against a basket of peers early on Wednesday as the euro slid on expectations for the European Central Bank to ease monetary policy in December.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 66.12, weaker by 9 paise from its previous close of 66.03 on Tuesday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.17 and 66.10 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 65.98 and for Euro stood at 70.34 on November 17, 2015. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 53.48 the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 100.1056. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.

(RBI-Reference Rate)