Mumbai: The Indian rupee strengthened marginally against the US dollar on Thursday as local equities and Asian currencies gained after crude oil prices eased on lingering supply concerns and a stronger dollar. At 9.10am, the rupee was trading at 73.85 a dollar, up 0.12% from its Wednesday’s close of 73.96. The currency opened at 73.89 a dollar. The 10-year gilt yield stood at 7.828% from its previous close of 7.853%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions. The benchmark Sensex Index rose 0.30% or 102.65 points to 34,544.70 points. Year to date, it has rose 1.4%.
So far this year, the rupee has declined 13.5%, while foreign investors have sold $5.70 billion and $8.37 billion in the equity and debt markets, respectively.
Asian currencies were trading higher. Singapore dollar was up 0.18%, South Korean won 0.17%, Philippines peso 0.17%, Thai baht 0.16%, China renminbi 0.12%, Taiwan dollar 0.11%, Indonesian rupiah 0.07%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 96.868, down 0.27% from its previous close of 97.127.