Rupee weakens tracking weak Asian currency

Indian rupee weakened against the US dollar on Tuesday, tracking weakness across major Asian currency markets. Further, scattered demand for the US dollar from importers and dollar’s strength against some other currencies overseas too weighed on the rupee. Though, a firm domestic equity market ahead of the key macroeconomic data due later today, capped the rupee's losses. The government will issue the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) and Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation data for May and June, respectively. On the global front, the yen hit a one-week low versus the dollar on Tuesday, after a weekend election victory by Japan's ruling coalition fanned expectations of more economic stimulus and bolstered risk sentiment.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 67.18, weaker by 5 paise from its previous close of 67.13 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 67.1975 and 67.1150 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.14 and for Euro stood at 74.10 on July 11, 2016. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 65.89, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 86.9161. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.