Mumbai: The Indian rupee was trading marginally higher against US dollar on Wednesday as traders await the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) monetary policy decision due after 2.30pm.
At 9.15am, the rupee was trading at 67.11 against the US dollar, up 0.08% from its previous close of 67.15. The currency opened at 67.12 a dollar.
Of the 15 economists surveyed by Mint, 11 expect the central bank to keep the repo rate—the rate at which the central bank infuses liquidity in the banking system—unchanged at 6%. Only four economists expect RBI to raise rates by 25 basis points (bps).
The 10-year bond yield stood at 7.848% from its Tuesday’s close of 7.834%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
So far this year, the rupee has weakened 4.83%, while foreign investors have bought $218.40 million in equity and sold $4.51 billion in debt markets.
Benchmark Sensex Index rose 0.01% or 2.88 points to 34,906.09. Since January, it has gained 2.8%.
Asian currencies were trading higher. Taiwan dollar was up 0.23%, South Korean won 0.16%, China renminbi 0.15%, Philippines peso 0.12%, Thai baht 0.12%, China offshore 0.12%, Singapore dollar 0.12%, Indonesian rupiah 0.06%. However, Japanese yen was down 0.07%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 93.844, down 0.03% from its previous close of 93.876.