Mumbai: The Indian rupee was trading lower against the US dollar on Tuesday after crude oil prices surged in eight out of nine trading sessions. Traders awaited the outcome of the US -China trade talks and President Donald Trump’s speech. At 9.10am, the rupee was trading at 70 a dollar, down 0.46% from previous close of 69.68. The home currency opened at 69.84 a dollar and touched a low of 70.01 a dollar.
Brent crude jumped eight out of nine trading sessions and rose over 14% in this period on optimism that the US and China may reach a trade deal and American crude inventories may fall.
US expressed optimism it can reach a “reasonable” trade deal with China as President Xi Jinping dispatched one of his top aides to the negotiations in Beijing
Traders will also be monitoring Trump’s televised address on Tuesday to see what he says about the government shutdown before he travels to the US-Mexico border later in the week.
The benchmark Sensex index rose 0.25% to 35940.70 points. Year to date, it is down 0.3%.
So far this year, the rupee has declined 1.3%, while foreign investors have sold $203.80 million in equities and bought $43.50 million in the debt markets.
Asian currencies were trading mixed. South Korean won was down 0.39%, Thai Baht 0.28%, China Offshore 0.11%, Taiwan dollar 0.08%, Singapore dollar 0.05%. However, Indonesian rupiah was up 0.31%, Malaysian ringgit 0.12%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.827, down 0.17% from its previous close of 95.666.
Bloomberg contributed to this story