Rupee closes stronger against US dollar at 66.19
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Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Thursday strengthened against the US dollar after local equity markets gained over 350 points.
The home currency closed at 66.19, up 0.17% from its previous close of 66.30. The local unit opened at 66.12 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 66.05 and 66.23, respectively, in intra-day trade.
The benchmark Sensex index rose 1.41%, or 359.40 points, to close at 25,841.92. The Sensex fell in 15 out of 21 sessions. Since 19 October till date, Sensex fell 5.5%, or 1,600 points.
“The government’s intention to push for reforms just before the start of winter Parliament session is being taken positively by the market. Additionally on the global front, the FOMC minutes appear to indicate that the US rate hike will only be a gradual increase, which is positive for EMs since they are already under pressure due to FIIs outflow”, said Vinod Nair, head-fundamental research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services Ltd.
Most Asian currencies closed higher. Malaysian ringgit was up 1.1%, South Korean won 0.91%, Taiwan dollar 0.63%, Singapore dollar 0.47%, Japanese yen 0.4%, Philippines peso 0.33%, Indonesian rupiah 0.32%, Thai baht 0.31% and China offshore 0.15%.
The US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has suggested that most US policy makers believed the conditions for a rate hike could well be met by the next FOMC meeting, but said any hike in rates would be gradual, Reuters reported.
The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond closed at 7.672% compared with its Wednesday’s close of 7.684%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
About 17,000 employees of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are on strike on Thursday to demand better retirement benefits and to oppose reforms to the central bank, raising the prospect of disruptions to banks and markets.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold equities in nine out of 11 sessions. Since 30 October to 17 November, FIIs sold $710.89 million in equities. Since 27 October to 17 November, FIIs sold $526.23 million in debt.
In fiscal year 2016 so far, FIIs have sold $2.11 billion in equity, the steepest selling since fiscal year 2009. In FY16, FIIs were the net sellers in equity for five out of eight months.
Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has lost 4.75%, while FIIs have bought $3.89 billion from local equity markets and $8.48 billion from bond markets.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 99.194, down 0.47% from its previous close of 99.652.
The Bank of Japan left its monetary stimulus unchanged on Thursday, indicating that Japan’s second recession since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office isn’t enough to alter governor Haruhiko Kuroda’s view that the inflationary trend is improving, Bloomberg reported.
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