Rupee trades marginally higher against US dollar

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Thursday strengthened marginally against the US dollar, tracking gains in the local equity and Asian currencies markets.

At 2pm, the home currency was trading at 64.79 a dollar, up 0.23% from its Wednesday’s close of 64.93. The rupee opened at 64.85 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 64.76 and 64.89, respectively.

The benchmark Sensex fell 0.10%, or 32.01 points, to 33,529.54. So far this year, it has gained 25.73%.

Bond yield was trading higher for third consecutive sessions and hit over 7% ahead of Rs15,000 crore government bond auction on Friday.

The 10-year bond yield was at 7.01%, compared to its previous close of 6.958%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

So far this year, the rupee has gained 4.7%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $8.17 billion and $22.69 billion in equity and debt, respectively.

Asian currencies were trading higher as dollar weakened on the latest US Federal Reserve minutes, which showed some policy makers expressing concern over low inflation.

China renminbi was up 0.4%, South Korean won 0.34%, China offshore 0.21%, Indonesian rupiah 0.1%. However, Taiwan dollar was down 0.08%, Malaysian ringgit 0.07%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 93.17, down 0.05% from its previous close of 93.220.