BLBG:Mauritius Rupee Weakens Against Dollar as Investors Shun Risk
Mauritius’s rupee weakened versus the dollar as Europe’s debt crisis sapped investor appetite for riskier frontier-market assets.
The currency depreciated 0.5 percent to 28.75 per dollar at 3:17 p.m. in Port Louis, the capital. Against the euro, the rupee fell for a second day, dropping 0.7 percent to 39.4595.
Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou holds a conference call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy amid speculation Greece will default. Europe is the main buyer of Mauritian manufactured goods and the largest source of tourists to the country, led by France, according to the Central Statistics Office.
“The drop is in line with the worldwide foreign exchange trends,” said Fabien Gebert, treasurer at GML, an investment group that says it is Mauritius’ largest by assets.
The Indian Ocean island nation, with a population of 1.3 million people, earns 41 percent of its foreign currency in euros, Bank of Mauritius data show.
Buying prices for the dollar ranged from 27.7284 to 27.8998 and the selling price increased to 29.2126 compared with 29.1518 on Sept. 13, according to exchange rates published today on the Bank of Mauritius website.
To contact the reporter on this story: Kamlesh Bhuckory in Port Louis via Johannesburg at 1933 or gbell16@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin in Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
