Indian rupee weakens against US dollar in line with Asian peers

Indian rupee has so far today touched a high of 71.55 and a low of 71.68.The benchmark equity index, Sensex, gained 0.07% or 27.21 points to 37087.58 points in pre-opening trade.

The Indian rupee weakened against the US dollar on Thursday tracking losses in other Asian currencies.

So far this year, rupee lost 2.66%. (Reuters photo)

Having opened at 71.55 to a dollar, the Indian currency, at 09:22 am, traded at a 71.67 dollar, down from its previous close of 71.55. The currency has so far today touched a high of 71.55 and a low of 71.68.

The yield on the 10-year government bond was at 6.573% compared with Wednesday’s close of 6.567%. Yields have risen this month amid concern over likely extra borrowing by the government to fund any possible fiscal stimulus.

The benchmark equity index, Sensex, gained 0.07% or 27.21 points to 37087.58 points in pre-opening trade. Since January, the index has advanced 2.83%.

So far this year, rupee lost 2.66%. Foreign investors have bought $8.21 billion and $3.39 billion in Indian equity and debt markets, respectively.

Most Asian currencies traded lower on Thursday. The South Korean won lost 0.28%, China Offshore was down 0.24%, China renminbi was lower by 0.14%, Singapore Dollar lost 0.11%, Malaysian ringgit was down 0.10%, Philippines peso was down 0.05% and the Taiwan dollar lost 0.03%. However, Japanese yen was up 0.16%, Indonesian rupiah climbed 0.028%, Thai baht rose 0.01% and Hong Kong dollar was a tad higher.