Mumbai: The rupee was trading in a range with a downward bias, tracking the trend in local equity markets and Asian peers and largely unresponsive to the liquidity easing measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday evening to ease liquidity in the banking system. At 2.04pm, the rupee was trading at 61.86 against the dollar, from its previous close of 61.80. The partially convertible currency opened at 61.71 and touched a high of 61.61 during intra-day trade. On Monday, RBI reduced the rate at which banks can borrow from the so-called marginal standing facility (MSF), or an emergency borrowing window, by 50 basis points to 9%. Besides, the central bank offered additional liquidity support to banks through 7-day and 14-day term repos for a notified amount equivalent to 0.25% of deposits through variable rate auctions on every Friday beginning 11 October. Since January this year, the rupee has weakened about 11.1% and has lost the second most after Indonesian rupiah in Asia. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 80.076, up 0.17% from its previous close of 79.941. India’s benchmark equity index, the BSE Sensex, was at 20,008.49 points, up 0.57%, or 113.39 points, from the previous close. The Sensex erased most of its early gains in the day. The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was at 8.492% from its previous close of 8.656%.

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