Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Friday strengthened against the US dollar in opening trade.
The rupee opened at 64.75 a dollar. At 9.15am, the rupee was trading at 64.70 a dollar, up 0.25% from its Thursday’s close of 64.85.
The benchmark Sensex index rose 0.18% or 53.77 points to 30,488.56. So far this year, it has risen 13%.
The goods and services tax (GST) Council on Thursday backed the 1 July deadline for rolling out the unified indirect tax that will help create a single national market, and ensured that items of mass consumption bear the least tax burden.
So far this year, the rupee has gained 5.5%, while foreign investors bought $7.12 billion and $9.47 billion in local equity and debt markets, respectively.
The 10-year bond yield was trading at 6.681% compared to its previous close of 6.677%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Asian currencies were trading lower amid uncertainty surrounding Brazilian and US politics.
Indonesian rupiah was down 0.3%, South Korean won 0.21%, Philippines peso 0.13%, Taiwan dollar 0.11%, China offshore 0.06% and China renminbi 0.05%. However, Japanese yen was up 0.31%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.834, down 0.05% from its previous close of 97.879.