Mumbai: The Indian rupee is trading marginally weaker against the US currency on speculation that dollar demand will increase from importers planning to meet month-end payments, some dealers said.
However, some dollar sale by foreign banks during the day arrested further weakening of the local unit, dealers said.
At 2.32pm, the rupee was trading at 60.35, down 0.1% from the previous close. The unit opened at 60.31 against its Thursday’s close of 60.29. During intra-day trading, the rupee fell to a low of 60.41.
“The rupee is under pressure as oil and defence importers will demand the greenback to pay month-end bills,” said Amogh Moghe, a Mumbai-based currency trader at Mecklai and Mecklai. “Rising reserves will cap big losses in the currency.”
Most Asian currencies were trading lower. The Malaysian ringgit weakened 0.35%, the Thai baht shed 0.25%, the Indonesian rupiah fell 0.21%, the South Korean won fell 0.14% and the Taiwan dollar slid 0.12%.
The S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.73%, or 164.96 points, to 22,793.8 points, while the CNX Nifty soared 0.63%, or 43.2 points, to 6,822.60 points, new all-time highs for both indices.
The rupee has strengthened 2.43% this year as foreign portfolio investors bought $4.74 billion of local equities during the period.
The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 8.822%, compared with its Thursday’s close of 8.853%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 79.814, down 0.04% from the previous close of 79.847.
