Mumbai: The Indian rupee weakened aginst the dollar ahead of the release of the current account defifict (CAD) data later in the day. The unit also tracked the weakness in most currencies in Asian markets. At 2 pm, the Indian rupee was trading at 62.63 a dollar, down 0.2% from the previous close of 62.49. The local unit opened at 62.99 and has marginally recovered towards noon. The RBI is scheduled to release April-June current account deficit data at 5 pm and the government will report the fiscal deficit data for the month of August at 4 pm. According to five economists polled by Reuters, the June quarter current account deficit (CAD) would rise to $23-25 billion, or 4.8-5.4% of gross domestic production (GDP), from $18.1 billion, or 3.6%, in the March quarter. Since January this year, the rupee has weakened 12.2% and has lost the most after Indonesian rupiah among Asian currencies during that period. The currency touched a record low of 68.85 on 28 August and has recovered 9.05%. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 80.306, down 0.27% from the previous close of 80.523. Most Asian currencies weakened in the morning, with the Indonesian rupiah and Malaysian ringgit shedding the most. Equity markets too were trading down with BSE’s benchmark Sensex dropping 1.33% to 19, 460.09 points. The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 8.655% from the previous close of 8.704%. The inter-bank call money rate was at 10%.

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