Rupee strengthens against dollar in early deals

Indian rupee strengthened against the dollar in early trade on Monday on increased selling of the US currency by exporters and banks amid a higher opening in the domestic stock market. Further, firm cues from other Asian currency markets and dollar’s weakness against other currencies overseas supported the rupee. On the global front, the dollar fell versus the yen on Monday, dragged lower by sliding Tokyo stocks and data showing Japan logged a much larger-than-expected trade surplus in April. Japan's trade balance in April was 823.5 billion yen ($7.50 billion), against economists' forecasts for a 492.8 billion yen increase. Japan logged a trade surplus for the third consecutive month.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 67.34, stronger by 11 paise from its previous close of 67.45 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 67.35 and 67.2575 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.40 and for Euro stood at 75.54 on May 20, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 61.17, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 98.4555. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.

(RBI-Reference Rate)