Mumbai: The rupee on Thursday weakened marginally against the US dollar, tracking losses in the Asian currencies market.
At 2.12pm, the local currency was trading at 64.87 a dollar, down 0.05% from its previous close of 64.84. The home currency opened at 64.93 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 64.81 and 64.98 respectively.
Yields on 10-year government bonds was at 7.649% compared to Wednesday’s close of 7.685%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Traders are awaiting trade deficit data for February due later in the day. According to a Bloomberg survey, for February, deficit will be at $14.20 billion from January’s $16.30 billion shortfall.
Year to date, the rupee has weakened 1.6%, while foreign investors have bought $1.39 million in equity and sold $137.80 million in debt markets.
India’s benchmark Sensex index rose 0.40%, or 135.49 points, to 33,700. So far this year, Sensex has fallen 0.65%.
Asian currencies were trading mixed. Malaysian ringgit was down 0.27%, South Korean won 0.23% and Indonesian rupiah 0.15%. However, Japanese yen was up 0.34%, China renminbi 0.11% and Philippines peso rose 0.05%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 89.678, down 0.03% from its previous close of 89.704.