Rupee trades lower at 68.04 against US dollar

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Wednesday weakened past 68 mark against the US dollar, after foreign portfolio investors (FPI) continued to liquidate their investment in the equity as well as in debt markets.

At 2.08pm, the rupee was trading at 68.04 a dollar, down 0.3% from its previous close of 67.84. The local currency opened at 67.91 a dollar and touched a low of 68.07—a level last seen on 21 January.

India’s benchmark equity index, BSE Sensex, was trading at 24,477.80 points, down 0.03% or 8.15 points. Year to date, the Sensex has lost over 6.12%.

Most Asian currencies were trading higher. Malaysian ringgit was up 0.94%, Philippines peso 0.35%, Japanese yen 0.26%, South Korean won 0.15%, China renminbi, Hong Kong dollar and Thai baht were up 0.06% each. However, Singapore dollar was down 0.13%.

The rupee is trading lower in 12 out of 17 sessions. So far in 2016, the currency has lost 2.78% to become the worst performing Asian unit.

So far this year, FPIs have been equity sellers in 14 out of 16 sessions and sellers of debt in 11 out of 16 sessions. FPIs have pulled out $1.75 billion from local equities and bought $94.3 million in debt.

Caution prevailed ahead of US Federal Reserve policy outcome due later today. Traders will look for any hints of when a second interest rate hike would come. Further, traders will also await the decision by the Bank of Japan from its two-day meet which begins on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the yield on India’s current 10-year benchmark bond stood at 7.789% compared with its Monday’s close of 7.805%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 99.048, down 0.31% from its previous close of 99.36.