Mauritius’s rupee depreciated for a second day against the dollar as concern of the debt crisis in Europe, the country’s main trading partner, curbed appetite for riskier frontier markets. The rupee depreciated 0.35 percent to 28.50 to the dollar by 3 p.m. in Port Louis, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The 38-member SEMDEX stocks gauge fell 0.4 percent to 2,053, its lowest level since May 5, led by the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB), the country’s largest lender by market value, and New Mauritius Hotels Ltd. (NMH), the biggest leisure operator. “The rupee weakened because the euro lost ground on the dollar,” said Oumesh Mungroo, treasurer at the Ebene-based local unit Barclays Bank Plc, in a phone interview today. The euro fell the most in a week against the dollar, on concern that European leaders won’t agree on measures to contain the region’s debt crisis at a summit this week. The rupee closely tracks the euro’s movements against the dollar, with an average correlation of 0.88 this month, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. A value of 1 would mean that they move in lock step. Europe is the Indian Ocean island nation’s biggest buyer of exports and largest source of visitors, according to the Central Statistics Office. Data from the Bank of Mauritius’ website show that the average selling prices for dollars is 29.051 rupees compared with 28.996 on July 15. Buying prices ranged from 27.5337 to 27.6982 rupees. Versus the euro, the rupee gained as much as 1 percent, the most since July 13, to 39.7695 and was trading 0.4 percent stronger at 40.0152. To contact the reporter on this story: Kamlesh Bhuckory in Port Louis at kbhuckory@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net

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