Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Thursday strengthened against the US dollar, tracking the gains in the Asian currencies markets.
The rupee closed at 64.41, up 0.41% from its Wednesday’s close of 64.67. The rupee opened at 64.50 a dollar and touched a high of 64.26.
Among the Asian currencies, South Korean won was up 1%, Taiwan dollar 0.83%, Malaysian ringgit 0.36%, Philippines peso 0.18%, Indonesian rupiah 0.14%, Thai Baht 0.05%. However, Singapore dollar was down 0.06%, Hong Kong dollar 0.06%.
US President Donald Trump indicated in an interview Wednesday that the US currency is getting so strong that it’s harmful to the economy. He also left open the possibility of renominating Janet Yellen as Federal Reserve chair for another term, adding he likes “a low interest-rate policy”, Bloomberg reported.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 100.32, down 0.46% from its previous close of 100.78.
The benchmark Sensex index fell 0.61% or 182.03 points to closed at 29,461.45. So far this year, it has risen 11.5%.
So far this year, the rupee has gained 5%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $6.70 billion and $6.26 billion from local equity and debt markets, respectively.
India’s retail inflation quickened to a five-month high of 3.85% in March on the back of higher fuel prices, erasing any hope of a rate cut by the central bank in the near future. Factory output surprisingly contracted 1.2% in February leaving economists perplexed.
The 10-year bond yield closed at 6.822% compared to its previous close of 6.782%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
