Rupee closes unchanged against US dollar at 66.56

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Friday closed unchanged against the US dollar, ahead of key US job data due later in the day.

The home currency closed at 66.56, unchanged from its previous close of 66.56. The rupee opened at 66.56 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 66.54 and 66.62, respectively.

Data on Thursday showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits rose more than expected last week, posting the biggest jump in more than a year.

Traders were anxiously awaiting Friday’s US jobs data for April. Investors will comb through the report for any signs of how the labour market could influence the pace of rate hikes, Reuters reported.

India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 0.13%, or 33.71 points, to close at 25,228.50. So far this year, the Sensex has fallen 3.4%.

India’s 10-year bond yield closed at 7.433%, as compared with its Thursday’s close of 7.435%.

So far this year, the rupee has weakened 0.62%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $1.68 billion from the local equity market and sold $151.1 million in debt markets.

Asian currencies closed higher. Philippines peso was up 0.44%, Japanese yen 0.28%, China renminbi 0.17%, China offshore spot 0.09%, Malaysian ringgit 0.09%, and Thai baht 0.06%. However, South Korean won was down 0.46%, Indonesian rupiah 0.05%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 93.638, down 0.18% from its previous close of 93.780.