Rupee continues southward journey against dollar

Following local equity markets weakness, Indian rupee extended previous sessions losses against dollar due to increased demand for the American currency. Meanwhile, inflation came in at 7.81% for September, which was slightly higher compared to 7.55% in August and in-line with analysts' expectations of 7.73%. However, higher-than-comfortable inflation rate has limited the possibility of policy rate cut. Euro's weakness against dollar ahead of a European leader’s austerity meeting later in the week also pressurized local unit to an extent.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 53.11, weaker by 30 paise from its previous close of 52.81 on Friday. The currency, so far, has touched a high and low of 53.15 and 53.00 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at Rs 52.70 and for Euro it stood at Rs 68.1585 on October 12, 2012. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 67.21 the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 84.5097. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.