Mumbai: The rupee on Tuesday weakened against the US dollar after local equity markets fell for seven out of eight trading sessions.
The home currency closed at 64.63, down 0.18% from its Monday’s close of 64.41. The rupee opened at 64.51 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 64.48 and 64.64, respectively. It has gained 5.1% in the year so far.
The benchmark Sensex fell 94.56 points, or 0.32%, to close at 29,319.10. So far this year, it has risen 12%.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers for the fifth consecutive session and sold nearly $358 million in the local equity markets in this period. So far this year, FIIs have bought $6.57 billion and $6.76 billion from local equity and debt markets, respectively.
India will receive normal rains during the June-to-September southwest monsoon season, the India Meteorological Department said on Tuesday. Rainfall will be 96% of the long-period average and there is a 38% probability that monsoon will be near normal, said K.J. Ramesh, director general of IMD. He added that the normal rains will be good for the economy and agriculture and rains will be distributed fairly across the country.
The 10-year bond yield closed at 6.864% compared with its previous close of 6.847%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Asian currencies were trading lower. The South Korean won was down 0.39%, Thai baht 0.21%, Taiwan dollar 0.17%, Philippines peso 0.16%, Malaysian ringgit 0.15%, Indonesian rupiah 0.09%, China offshore 0.09%, Japanese yen 0.07%, China renminbi 0.07% and Singapore dollar 0.06%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 100.06, down 0.23% from its previous close of 100.29.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May said on Tuesday she will seek an early election on 8 June, in an unexpected gamble aimed at strengthening her hand going into talks on leaving the European Union.