BackRupee closes weaker against US dollar at 67.20
The Indian rupee weakened against the US dollar, tracking the fall in the Asian currencies market
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Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Wednesday weakened against the US dollar, tracking the fall in the Asian currencies market.
The home currency closed at 67.20, down 0.13% from its previous close of 67.11. The local currency opened at 67.15 a dollar.
Asian currencies dropped marginally as investors are unlikely to have huge positions before the US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan meetings next week, according to a Bloomberg report.
Malaysian ringgit was down 0.457%, South Korean won 0.453%, Philippines peso 0.435%, Japanese yen 0.385%, Singapore dollar 0.383%, Indonesian rupiah 0.175% and Taiwan dollar 0.08%. However, China offshore spot was up 0.42% and China renminbi 0.29%.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have turned net buyers of Indian debt as hopes of a normal monsoon and a dovish central bank governor have renewed expectations of further rate cuts.
The fall in global bond yield prices to multi-year low and the probability that the Fed may delay the rate hike due to the Brexit on the impact worries also boosted sentiment. The current Parliament session, which is looking to pass the GST bills, has added to the positive sentiment. FIIs bought $1.13 billion in debt over the last 15 trading sessions and have been buyers on all but two trading sessions over this period.
India’s 10-year bond yield closed at 7.272%, compared with Tuesday’s close of 7.28%. It opened at 7.281% and touched a low of 7.259%, a level last seen on 18 June 2013.
India’s benchmark Sensex index rose 0.46%, or 128.27 points, to 27,915.89. So far this year, it has gained 6.89%.
So far this year, the rupee is down 1.55%, while FIIs have bought $3.70 billion in equity and sold $920.90 million in debt markets.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.117, up 0.06% from its previous close of 97.063.
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