Rupee makes a soft start of the new week

Indian rupee made a soft start, extending its declines to the new week as the overhang of Reserve Bank of India’s surprise repo rate hike continued. Though, the RBI had provided some reprieve to the bond market by unwinding some of the cash tightening steps undertaken since mid-July but the traders remained concerned ahead of government’s announcements of its market borrowing programme via dated securities for the period between October and March. In global market, the dollar too recovered from its seven-month low in Asian trade, finding some support with chance of the central bank scaling back stimulus next month.

The partially convertible currency is currently trading at 62.55, weaker by 28 paise from its previous close of 62.27 on Friday. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 62.24 and for Euro it stood at 84.22 on September 20, 2013. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 62.67, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 99.8969. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.