Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Monday strengthened against the US dollar following gains in the global currencies and equity markets after the outcome of the first round of the French Presidential election.
The rupee closed at 64.44 a dollar, up 0.27% from its Friday’s close of 64.61. The rupee opened at 64.51 a dollar and touched a high of 64.41. Year-to-date, it gained 5.3%.
Global stock markets rallied after it’s favoured candidate, Emmanuel Macron, won the first round of the French presidential election. Macron will now face far-right leader Marine Le Pen in a 7 May runoff, with opinion polls on Sunday predicting an easy win for him in the final clash, Reuters reported.
The benchmark Sensex index rose 1% or 290.54 points to closed at 29,655.84. So far this year, it has risen 11%.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers for the ninth consecutive session and sold nearly $600 million in the local equity markets in this period. So far this year, they have bought $6.33 billion and $7.14 billion from local equity and debt markets, respectively.
The 10-year bond yield closed at 6.942% compared to its previous close of 6.924%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Asian currencies were trading higher. South Korean won was up 0.38%, Singapore dollar 0.32%, Taiwan dollar 0.28%, Indonesian rupiah 0.09%, China Offshore 0.06%, Thai Baht 0.03%. However, Japanese yen was down 0.99%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 99.03, down 0.95% from its previous close of 99.977.