Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Wednesday was trading little changed against the US dollar in opening trade ahead of the release of minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s last meeting.
The rupee opened at 64.91 a dollar. At 9.15am, the rupee was trading at 64.87, up 0.01% from its previous close of 64.89.
Moody’s cut China’s rating to A1 from Aa3, citing a worsening outlook for the nation’s financial strength. Traders await the release on Wednesday of minutes of the Fed’s last meeting for clues on its policy outlook.
The benchmark Sensex index rose 0.25% or 76.68 points to 30,442.13. So far this year, it has gained 14%.
So far this year, the rupee has gained 4.68%, while foreign investors bought $7.84 billion and $9.75 billion in local equity and debt markets, respectively.
The 10-year bond yield was trading at 6.676% compared to its previous close of 6.675%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Asian currencies were trading lower. Philippines peso was down 0.24%, Malaysian ringgit 0.19%, South Korean won 0.16%, Indonesian rupiah 0.12%, China renminbi 0.12%, Taiwan dollar 0.1%, Japanese yen 0.1%, Thai baht 0.09% and China offshore 0.07%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.358, up 0.01% from its previous close of 97.351.
Traders were cautious ahead of the key Opec decision in Vienna on Thursday. Opec and its allies agree on extending oil output cuts by nine months, according to a Bloomberg report.