Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Tuesday closed marginally weaker against the US dollar, tracking losses in Asian currencies. The rupee ended at 68.82 a dollar, down 0.15% from its previous close of 68.72. The currency opened at 68.72 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 68.72 and 68.86, respectively.
Traders are awaiting consumer price inflation and Index of Industrial production data due to be released on 12 July. June CPI probably rose 5.25% year on year versus 4.87% in May, according to median in a Bloomberg News survey.
Bond yields gained for second sessions due to heavy supply week. The government said it will sale ₹ 20,000 crore of cash management bill on Tuesday; that’s in addition to sale of ₹ 18,000 crore of Tbills on Wednesday and ₹ 12,000 crore of bonds on Friday. The states are scheduled to auction ₹ 10,500 crore of debts on Tuesday.
The 10-year bond yield stood at 7.9%, from its Monday’s close of 7.890%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
So far this year, the rupee has weakened 7.1%, while foreign investors have sold $719.90 million and $6.19 billion in equity and debt markets respectively.
Benchmark Sensex Index rose 0.85% or 304.90 points to 36,239.62. Since January, it has gained 5.51%
Most Asian currencies fell as the dollar strengthened and regional stocks pared gains. Japanese yen was down 0.45%, Thai Baht 0.39%, South Korean won 0.38%, China Offshore 0.34%, China renminbi 0.34%, Indonesian rupiah 0.26%, Philippines peso 0.24%, Taiwan dollar 0.15%, Singapore dollar 0.1%. However, Malaysian ringgit was up 0.15%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 94.442, up 0.01% from its previous close of 94.077.
