Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Thursday opened marginally stronger against the US dollar in opening trade.
The rupee opened at 66.66 a dollar. At 9.15am, the home currency was trading at 66.61 against US dollar, up 0.08% from its Wednesday’s close of 66.67.
US Federal Reserve officials left interest rates unchanged, acknowledging inflation is close to target without indicating any intention to veer from their gradual tightening of monetary policy. Fed conveyed a relaxed attitude toward inflation rising above 2% in its statement on Wednesday, signalling that it doesn’t intend accelerating its gradual rate-hike program, Bloomberg reported.
Traders now awaiting US jobless claims and non-farm payrolls data due later in the week.
Yields on 10-year government bond stood at 7.725% from its previous close of 7.735%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Benchmark Sensex Index fell 0.14% or 49.56 points to 35,126.86 points. Year to date, it’s up 2%.
Since January this year, the rupee has weakened 4.2% and has lost the most in among Asian currencies during that period. So far this year, foreign investors have bought $1.18 billion and sold $1.86 billion in equity and debt markets, respectively.
Asian currencies were trading mixed. Thai baht was up 0.24%, Singapore dollar 0.2%, Japanese yen 0.19%, China offshore 0.14%. However, Indonesian rupiah was down 0.14%, Malaysian ringgit 0.1%, China renminbi 0.07%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 92.547, up 0.03% from its previous close of 92.512.