Mumbai: The Indian rupee traded lower against the US dollar on Monday, tracking the losses in Asian currencies. At 9.08 am, the rupee was trading at 68.12 a dollar, down 0.43% from its Friday’s close of 67.83. It opened at 67.99 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 67.90 and 68.13 respectively.
The benchmark Sensex gained 0.26%, or 94.15 points, to 35783.75 points in pre-opening session.
The 10-year bond yield was trading at 7.807% compared to its previous close of 7.820%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
So far this year, rupee has declined 6.22%, while foreign institutional investors have sold $1.01 billion in equity and $8.34 billion in debt.
Asian currencies were trading lower. South Korean won lost 0.753%, China offshore 0.444%, China renminbi 0.175%, Singapore dollar 0.323%, Taiwan dollar 0.283%, Malaysian rinnggit 0.269%, Indonesian rupiah 0.220%, Thai baht 0.188%, Philippines peso 0.186% and Hong Kong dollar 0.004. However, Japanese yen gained 0.420%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 94.550, up 0.03%, from its previous close of 94.520.