Rupee snaps six-days gaining streak on Tuesday

Snapping its six-days gaining streak, Indian rupee concluded weak against dollar on Tuesday on fresh demand for American currency from banks and importers, tracking losses in Asian currencies market. Besides, a firm dollar against some global currencies overseas also weighed on the rupee. Nevertheless, choppy trade in the local equity which somehow managed a positive close capped some losses. The domestic currency was weak from the start and also failed to get solace with the international rating agency Fitch  forecast maintaining India's growth forecast at 7.5 percent for the financial year 2015-16 and projecting the GDP growth of 7.7 per cent in the FY2017, which is 0.3 per cent lower than its December forecast of 8 per cent. On the global front, euro moved up against the dollar on Tuesday as appetite for riskier assets and currencies waned following the weak Chinese data.

Finally, the rupee ended at 67.34, 25 paise weaker from its previous close of 67.09 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 67.45 and 67.21 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.33 and for Euro stood at 74.19 on March 08, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 59.59, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 95.9028. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.