Rupee weakens against dollar in early deals on Monday

Indian rupee weakened against dollar in early deals on Monday after a solid US jobs report strengthened the dollar and potentially boosted the chance of interest rate hikes in US this year. Reports showed that US nonfarm payrolls increased by just 151,000 jobs last month, falling well short of expectations for a rise of 190,000. But the unemployment rate fell to 4.9 percent, the lowest since February 2008, and wages rose, indicating some signs of underlying strength in the labor market. Rupee weakened further on lower opening in the domestic equity market and caution ahead of key gross domestic product (GDP) data for the third quarter (October-December) of 2015-16, due later in the day, as it will be a crucial input into the budget to be presented by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on 29 February. On the global front, the dollar held onto its post-payrolls gains early on Monday in a sluggish start to the week with the Lunar New Year holidays and the Super Bowl game all but guaranteeing a tepid session in Asia.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 67.80, weaker by 15 paise from its previous close of 67.65 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 67.86 and 67.7775 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.63 and for Euro stood at 75.73 on February 05, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 57.91, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 98.4720. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.    

(RBI-Reference Rate)