Mumbai: The rupee on Thursday closed near one month low against the US dollar, after foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to liquidate its holds in the local equity markets and tracking losses in the Asian currencies markets.
The rupee closed at 64.13 a dollar—a level last seen on 21 August, down 0.2% from its Wednesday’s close of 63.99. The rupee opened at 64.17 a dollar and touched a low of 64.18, a level last seen on 7 September.
Since 1 September, FIIs have sold nearly $800 million in equities.
Bond yield jumped to fresh three month high after consumer and wholesale based inflation rose higher than analyst expectations which weakened the hopes of rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Next RBI policy will be on 4 October.
India’s wholesale price inflation (WPI) rose to 3.24% from a year ago, its fastest pace in four months, driven by higher prices of food and fuel products. On Tuesday, government issued consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation which continued to rise for the second consecutive month, by 3.36% to hit a five-month high from 2.36% a month ago as food inflation turned positive after three months of contraction.
The 10-year bond yield closed at 6.59% compared to its previous close of 6.586%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
The benchmark Sensex index rose 0.17% or 55.52 points to closed at 32,241.93. So far this year, it has risen over 19%.
So far this year, the rupee has gained 5.9%, while FIIs have bought $6.35 billion and $20.35 billion in equity and debt, respectively.
Asian currencies were trading lower ahead of key data on China’s economy and US inflation that will offer a guide for global economic growth and central bank actions. US consumer price data and China’s August industrial production data is due on Thursday.
Indonesian rupiah was down 0.38%, South Korean won 0.35%, Philippines peso 0.34%, Malaysian ringgit 0.34%, China renminbi 0.23%, Taiwan dollar 0.17%, China offshore 0.16%, Japanese yen 0.13%. However, Thai baht was up 0.1%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 92.337, down 0.21% from its previous close of 92.52.
Source:- Livemint.com
