Rupee opens marginally up at 67.77/$

On macroeconomic side, US GDP growth during Q4 2015 slowed to annualised 0.70%, when compared with the reading of 2.0% during the prior quarter.

Indian Rupee opened at 67.77/$, marginally up by 1 paise in early trade on Monday as against the previous close of 67.78/$. On Friday, Bank of Japan announced negative interest rate of 0.1% and maintained the yearly bond buying program worth 80 trillion Yen. Negative interest rates will apply only to new reserves that banks/financial institutions deposit at the central bank. On the domestic front, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley reportedly said the 8% GDP growth can be achieved next fiscal on account of improved rural demand and better monsoon.

On macroeconomic side, US GDP growth during Q4 2015 slowed to annualised 0.70%, when compared with the reading of 2.0% during the prior quarter. Lower exports and falling energy prices took a toll on the economic growth. US GDP grew 2.4% during calendar year 2015, similar to the growth witnessed during the previous year.

On Friday, the rupee ended at 67.78/$, higher by 45 paise from its previous close of 68.23/$ on Thursday. The currency touched a high and low of 68.01 and 68.07 respectively.The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) reference rate for the dollar stood at 67.87 and for Euro stood at 74.06 on January 29, 2016. While, the RBI’s reference rate for the Yen stood at 56.26, the reference rate for the Great Britain Pound (GBP) stood at 97.7554.