Rupee ended near three month’s low on Monday

Indian rupee ended near a three month low on Monday, reinforcing market concern that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) might intervene in the market. Fears that Europe's debt crisis could deepen, mainly eroded risk appetite for asset class including local currency. Even late recovery in local stocks failed to bring any respite for ailing currency, which concluded near its low point of the day. Further also, caution ahead of RBI’s Annual monetary policy review, weighed on the local unit. India's headline inflation which rose 6.89 percent in March versus 6.95 percent in February bolstered rate cut hopes by RBI in its policy meet tomorrow. On the global front, euro fell broadly as Spain rekindled worries about the fragile state of the euro zone economy.

Finally the rupee ended at 51.68, weaker by 38 paise from its previous close of 51.30 on Friday. It touched a high and low of 51.71 and 51.58 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at Rs 51.65 and for Euro it stood at Rs 67.18 on April 16, 2012. While, the RBI's reference rate for the Yen stood at 64.17 the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 81.7969. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.