Mumbai: The Indian rupee and Asian currencies on Wednesday weakened against US dollar after China said it would respond to any efforts to incite a trade war.
Last week, Reuters reported that US president Donald Trump planned trade tariffs that caused fall in global stock markets as traders feared a trade war. The US president was expected to approve the 25% levy on steel and 10% on aluminium imports this week, possibly as early as Thursday, the report added.
The rupee closed at 65.15, down 0.40% from its previous close of 64.89. The home currency opened at 64.93 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 64.90 and 65.15, respectively.
Among the Asian currencies, Indonesian rupiah was down 0.41%, China Offshore 0.30%, Philippines peso 0.26%, China renminbi 0.2%, Singapore dollar 0.2%, Thai baht 0.11%, South Korean won 0.11%, Malaysian ringgit 0.1%, Taiwan dollar 0.07%, Hong Kong dollar 0.05%.
India’s benchmark Sensex index rose 0.96% or 318.48 points to 33,351.57. So far this year, Sensex has fallen 0.5%.
Yields on 10-year government bonds ended at 7.657% compared to Wednesday’s close of 7.678%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Year to date, the rupee weakened 1.8%, while foreign investors have bought $235.20 million and $888.20 billion in equity and debt markets, respectively.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 89.799, up 0.18% from its previous close of 89.637.
Source: livemint.com