Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Monday weakened against the US dollar after India’s current account deficit widened sharply driven by higher imports.
The rupee opened at 65.04 a dollar. At 9.15am, the home currency was trading at 65.04 a dollar, down 0.16% from its Friday’s close of 64.94.
The current account deficit for December quarter widened to 2% of the gross domestic product, or $13.5 billion, up from 1.4%, or $8 billion, in the corresponding period a year ago.
Traders are now looking forward to Wednesday’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting for guidance on the US Federal Reserve’s rate hike path.
The 10-year bond yield was at 7.576% compared to its previous close of 7.557%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Benchmark Sensex rose 0.23%, or 75.58 points, to 33,251.58. So far this year, it has declined 2.6%.
So far this year, the rupee has fell 1.65%, while foreign investors have bought $1.35 billion in equity and sold $317.10 million in debt market.
Asian currencies were trading lower. South Korean won was down 0.45%, Taiwan dollar 0.21%, Malaysian ringgit 0.19%, Philippines peso 0.16%, Indonesian rupiah 0.09% and China offshore fell 0.07%. However, Japanese yen was up 0.19% and Thai baht 0.1%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 90.278, up 0.05% from its previous close of 90.233.