Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Thursday was trading marginally higher against the US dollar in opening trade, tracking gains in the local equity markets.
The local currency opened at 66.76 a dollar. At 9.15am, the home currency was trading at 66.77, up 0.11% from its previous close of 66.83.
The Sensex index rose 0.44% or 126.13 points to 29,110.62. So far this year, it has risen 8.8%.
The 10-year bond yield rose to 6.912% compared to its Wednesday’s close of 6.925%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
So far this year, the rupee has gained 1.64%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought $1.56 billion and $508.40 million from local equity and debt markets, respectively.
Most Asian currencies were trading lower after US Federal Reserve officials prompted gains in the dollar by signalling increased willingness to tighten monetary policy as early as March.
Japanese yen was down 0.2%, Singapore dollar 0.12%, China offshore 0.07%, Malaysian ringgit 0.06%, Thai baht 0.05% and China renminbi 0.05%. However, South Korean won was up 0.2%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 101.89, up 0.13% from its previous close of 101.78.
Fed governor Lael Brainard painted a positive picture of economies at home and abroad that supported the case for an interest rate hike “soon” by the US central bank.
New York Fed president William Dudley, in an interview Tuesday on CNN International, said the case for tightening had become “a lot more compelling” in recent months. His remarks followed comments from San Francisco Fed chief John Williams, who said he expects an interest rate increase will receive “serious consideration” at the 14-15 March meeting of the policy-making Federal Open Market Committee, Bloomberg reported.
