Rupee weakens against dollar in early deals on Monday

Indian rupee weakened against US dollar in early deals on Monday due to month-end demand for the American currency from importers and banks. Besides, dollars’ firmness against some global currencies, boosted by optimism over the US economy after GDP figures were revised upwards also weighed on the rupee. Reports showed that the GDP growth for US economy has been revised upward to 1.4 percent in the December quarter from 1 percent estimated earlier. However, weak domestic equity market capped the losses. Forex market remained closed on Thursday and Friday for ‘Holi’ and ‘Good Friday’, respectively. On the global front, the dollar nudged up against the yen on Monday, after rebounding last week following a series of comments from US Federal Reserve officials who supported the case for more interest rate hikes than markets had anticipated.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 66.73, weaker by 9 paise from its previous close of 66.64 on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.88 and 66.6625 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.86 and for Euro stood at 74.90 on March 23, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 59.52, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 94.9268. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.

(RBI-Reference Rate)