Rupee strengthens on sustained selling of US currency by exporters and banks

Indian rupee strengthened against the dollar on Wednesday due to sustained selling of the US currency by exporters and banks. Further, dollar’s weakness against some other currencies overseas after US worker productivity fell for the third straight quarter in June, and continued inflows by foreign funds too supported the rupee. The rupee had settled flat on Tuesday after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan maintained status quo on key rates at his last policy review meeting, as was widely expected, citing upside risks to inflation.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 66.73, stronger by 11 paise from its previous close of 66.84 on Tuesday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.7375 and 66.67 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.96 and for Euro stood at 74.18 on August 9, 2016. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 65.36, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 86.99. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.