Mumbai: The Indian rupee fell against the US dollar for the fifth consecutive session after the Reserve Bank of India on Friday kept interest rates unchanged, defying forecasts for an increase. Traders remained disappointed after RBI failed to provide concrete solutions to stop the depreciation of the currency and resolve concerns over non-banking finance companies last week. At 9.15am, the home currency was trading at 73.88 a dollar, down 0.12% from its Friday’s close of 73.77. The currency opened at 73.96 against dollar and touched a low of 73.97.
Bond yield opened below 8% after RBI kept repo rate unchanged against expectation of rate hike citing a benign inflation trajectory and downward revision to inflation projections. The MPC lowered its inflation projection to 3.9-4.5% from 4.8% for the second half of the current financial year. The 10-year gilt yield stood at 8.02% from its previous close of 8.025%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Benchmark Sensex Index rose 0.12% to 34419.04 points. Year to date, it gained 3.3%.
So far this year, the rupee has declined 13.4%, while foreign investors have sold $2.74 billion and $7.33 billion in the equity and debt markets, respectively.
Asian currencies were trading lower. China Renminbi was down 0.42%, Taiwan dollar 0.21%, Indonesian rupiah 0.19%, Japanese yen 0.13%, South Korean won 0.13%, Thai Baht 0.12%, Malaysian ringgit 0.06%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.701, up 0.08% from its previous close of 95.624.
Bloomberg contributed to this story