Indian rupee ends flat after a choppy trade

Indian rupee recovering from its early decline ended flat on Thursday. In early trade the rupee extended the losses amid fresh dollar demand from banks and importers.  However, the domestic currency erased all its early looses by mid of the day, tailing the gains in the local equity markets and on fresh dollar selling by exporters. The local equity markets despite coming off the day’s high posted gains of over half a percent. On the global front, the US dollar rose against most of the other currencies, as mostly positive economic data released last day, boosted optimism over the strength of the economy and on hopes the US economy could bounce back from sluggishness of the first quarter. US services sector expanded in April as new orders and employment advanced.

Finally, the rupee ended at 66.55, 1 paise stronger from its previous close of 66.56, on Wednesday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.61 and 66.45 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.51 and for Euro stood at 76.38 on May 05, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 62.15, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 96.5865. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.