Rupee opens higher by 11 paise at 67.86 against US Dollar

On the global front, US dollar traded on a steady note against the Euro and British Pound, however surged higher against other emerging market currencies.

Indian Rupee opened at 67.86/$,up 11 paise in early trade on Thursday as against the previous close of 67.95/$. On Wednesday, Indian rupee tumbled against the greenback, with values moving well above 68 levels. Sharp sell‐off in domestic equities and concerns over persistent foreign capital outflows took a toll on Indian rupee.

On the global front, US dollar traded on a steady note against the Euro and British Pound, however surged higher against other emerging market currencies. In this respect, Russian ruble collapsed to a new low of 80, impacted by the descent in oil prices. Mexican peso also fell to a record low of 18.47, down by 6.5% on YTD basis. Brazilian real weakened further as the country's central bank stated that it may abandon plans to hike interest rates to combat inflation. Economists project that Brazil's recessionary conditions will aggravate and stability in the economy can be restored only once political concerns mitigate.

In China,PBOC injected more cash in the banking system through open‐market operations in order to soothe the liquidity crunch in light of persistent capital outflows and also increasing demand for cash ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday.

On Wednesday, the rupee ended at 67.95/$, weaker by 30 paise from its previous close of 67.65/$ on Wednesday. The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.97 and for Euro stood at 74.48 on January 20, 2016. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 58.24, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 96.2016.