Rupee weakens on fresh dollar demand from banks and importers

Indian rupee weakened against the dollar on Monday on fresh dollar demand from banks and importers amid a lower opening in the domestic equity market. Investors are turned cautious ahead of macroeconomic data, IIP for July and inflation data for August, which are scheduled to be released later in the day. Further, foreign fund outflows and dollar's gains against other currencies overseas, also weighed on the rupee. On the global front, the dollar began the week on the back foot on Monday as a bout of risk aversion underpinned the yen, though losses were limited as the US currency garnered some support on renewed talk of a possible rate hike by the Federal Reserve as early as this month.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 66.89, weaker by 21 paise from its previous close of 66.68 on Friday. The currency touched a high and low of 66.93 and 66.85 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 66.55 and for Euro stood at 75.02 on September 9, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 65.13, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 88.59.The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.