Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Thursday weakened for the third consecutive session against the US dollar as concern over US President Donald Trump spurred a sell off in emerging market currencies
The rupee opened at 64.36 a dollar and touched a low of 64.45. At 2pm, the rupee was trading at 64.43 a dollar, down 0.42% from its Wednesday’s close of 64.16.
The benchmark Sensex index fell 0.49% or 149.10 points to 30,509.67. So far this year, it has risen 13%.
So far this year, the rupee has gained 5.5%, while foreign investors bought $6.94 billion and $9.15 billion in local equity and debt markets, respectively.
The 10-year bond yield was trading at 6.677% compared to its previous close of 6.679%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Asian currencies were trading lower. South Korean won was down 0.71%, Taiwan dollar 0.25%, China renminbi 0.15%, Philippines peso 0.13%, Japanese yen 0.13%, Indonesian rupiah 0.12%, Malaysian ringgit 0.12%, China offshore 0.1% and Singapore dollar 0.07%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.495, down 0.08% from its previous close of 97.575.
The dollar gave up all its gains since the election of Trump, undermined by uncertainty surrounding the legislative agenda amid political turmoil that also prompted a steep fall in US stocks and UST yields.