Rupee touches one-week high against dollar

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Tuesday hit a one-week high against the US dollar, tracking gains in the local equity and Asian currencies markets.

At 2.10pm, the rupee was trading at 66.78 against the US dollar, up 0.16% from its previous close of 66.89. The home currency opened at 66.79 a dollar and touched a high of 66.67 a dollar—a level last seen on 10 October.

So far this year, it fell 0.8%.

India’s benchmark Sensex index was trading at 27,925.48 points, up 1.44% or 395.51 points from its previous close. So far this year, it has gained 7%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought $7.42 billion.

Traders are cautious as the Reserve Bank of India to release minutes of monetary policy panel due later on Tuesday, which in its maiden meeting voted 6-0 for a surprise 25 bps rate cut on 4 October.

Asian currencies were trading higher as dollar weakens for second day with data overnight pointing to weakness in US manufacturing.

Philippines peso was up 0.81%, South Korean won 0.76%, Taiwan dollar 0.73%, Thai Baht 0.49%, Malaysian ringgit 0.47%, Indonesian rupiah 0.34%, Singapore dollar 0.16%, China Offshore 0.06%. However, Japanese yen was down 0.14%.

Since 3 October to 14 October, FIIs sold $989.30 million in debt and so far this year they have sold $728.40 million.

The benchmark 10-year government bond yield was trading at 6.721% compared to Monday’s close of 6.748%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.706, down 0.19% from its previous close of 97.888.

Traders are also cautious ahead of the Chinese economic data on industrial production, retail sales and gross domestic product that are all due on Wednesday after a report last week showed the China’s exports unexpectedly dropped in September, according to Bloomberg report.