Indian rupee declining further for the second consecutive day, lost considerable ground on Tuesday, on increased demand for the American currency from importers and banks amid weakness in the domestic equity market. Traders largely ignored the report released late last session that Consumer Price Index-based (CPI-based) inflation softened to 5.18% in February from 5.69% a month ago. The domestic currency remained weak since morning, weighed down by firmness in dollar against some other global currencies, ahead of the US Federal Reserve's two-day policy meet scheduled to start later in the day and was later pressured by the sell-off in the local equity markets. On the global front, while the dollar rose, the yen was boosted after the Bank of Japan made no change to monetary policy
Finally, the rupee ended at 67.39, 29 paise weaker from its previous close of 67.10 on Monday. The currency touched a high and low of 67.42 and 67.17 respectively. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.22 and for Euro stood at 74.64 on March 15, 2016. While the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 59.31, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 95.9223. The reference rates are based on 12 noon rates of a few select banks in Mumbai.
