MUMBAI: The Indian rupee on Monday weakened against the dollar, tracking losses in the Asian currencies market.
The local unit opened at 61.88 per dollar. At 9.09 am, the home currency was trading at 61.87, down 0.05% from its previous close of 61.83. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.438, up 0.15% from its previous close of 95.293. India’s equity benchmark Sensex gained 0.6% or 176.86 points to 29,538.36 points in pre-opening trade. Major Asian currencies were trading lower.
Malaysian ringgit was down 0.78%, South Korean won down 0.36%, Taiwanese dollar 0.241%, Singapore dollar 0.12%, Thai baht 0.03%, Indonesian rupiah 0.42% and Philippine peso 0.1%. The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 7.738%, compared with its Friday’s close of 7.728%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions. Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has gained 1.95%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $9.32 billion during the period from local equity and bond markets.
