Mumbai: The Indian rupee strengthened, in line with most Asian currencies, amid optimism that foreign portfolio investors will increase purchases of local assets after the US said it will not immediately wind down its monetary stimulus programme.
The rupee strengthened to 61.88 a dollar, before losing some of its ground on demand from banks.
At 2pm, the local currency was trading at 62.03 a dollar, up 0.65% from its previous close of 62.4150. All Asian currencies in the region strengthened except the Chinese renminbi and the Hong Kong dollar.
Markets will watch for minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s 29-30 October meeting due on Wednesday and a string of speeches from US Federal Reserve officials including chairman Ben Bernanke, who is due to speak on Tuesday.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 80.646, down 0.22% from the previous close of 80.825.
India’s benchmark equity index Sensex rose 2.21% to 20,850.74 points.
The yield on the 10-year bond was at 9.016%, down from its previous close of 9.021%. The interbank call money rate was at 8.8%.
