Rupee a lad lower, other Asian currencies trade mixed

The Indian rupee opened marginally lower against the greenback, while Asian peers traded mixed as traders await US jobs data and a speech by Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell for cues.

Having opened at 71.88 to a dollar, the Indian currency, in early deals, traded at 71.87, down 0.04% from its Thursday’s close of 71.85.

The US non-farm payrolls data is due later today. US employers likely added 160,000 jobs last month after a 164,000 gain in July, according to a Bloomberg survey.

Traders will also look to Powell’s speech in Zurich on Friday for more clues on Fed’s monetary policy stance.

Back home, the yield on the 10-year Indian government bond was at 6.604% compared with its previous close of 6.578%.

In pre-trade, the benchmark equity index Sensex was up 0.31% at 36757.32 points. So far this year, the index has risen 1.6%.

In the year so far, the rupee has weakened 2.88%, while foreign investors have bought nearly $6.59 billion in Indian equities and $4.48 billion in debt.

Other Asian currencies traded on a mixed note on Friday. The South Korean won was up 0.35%, Malaysian ringgit 0.15%, Indonesian rupiah 0.05%, Thai Baht 0.05%. However, China Offshore was down 0.1%, Singapore dollar 0.05%, Philippines peso 0.04%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against a basket of major currencies, was at 98.429, up 0.02% from its previous close of 98.414.

(Bloomberg contributed this story)

First Published: Sep 06, 2019 11:45 IST