MUMBAI: The Indian rupee on Friday strengthened against the dollar, tracking gains in the domestic equity markets. The local unit opened at 62.22 per dollar.
At 9.05am, the home currency was trading at 62.21, up 0.2% from previous close of 62.34. India’s benchmark Sensex gained 0.35% or 103.75 points to 29,424 points in pre-open trade. Sensex rose nearly 1,200 points or 4.5% higher since 9 February.
Major Asian currencies were trading lower against the dollar. The Malaysian ringgit was down 0.71%, Taiwan dollar 0.33%, Indonesian rupiah 0.27%, South Korean won 0.26%. The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 7.698% compared with its Wednesday’s close of 7.710%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions. Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has gained 1.13%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $2.49 billion from local equity and $4.68 billion from bond markets.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, trading at 94.338, down 0.07% from the previous close of 94.404. Rupee was closed on Thursday on account of public holiday.
