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Rupee opens flat at 68.71 against US dollar, bonds rally on RBI bond purchase |
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Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Friday was trading little changed against the US dollar, ahead of key the economic outlook survey on Friday and the Union Budget on 29 February.
At 9.14am, the home currency was trading at 68.70, up 0.01% from its previous close of 68.71. The local currency opened at 68.71 a dollar.
Traders will look for direction of government policy through the annual economic outlook survey and the Union Budget.
India’s 10-year bond yield fell to 7.809% from its previous close of 7.876% after the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced that it will buy Rs.12,000 crore bonds under open market operations on 3 March.
The RBI also clarified that UDAY bonds will not hit the markets and will be put out through private placement. “Reserve Bank will also consider regulatory relaxations, including classification of these bonds as held to maturity,” said a central bank spokesperson.
Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has lost 3.71%, while foreign institutional investors have sold $2.38 billion from local equity markets.
India’s benchmark Sensex index rose 0.72% or 165.08 points to 23,141.08 in pre-opening trade. So far this year, Sensex has fallen 11.3%.
Most Asian currencies were trading higher. Taiwan dollar was up 0.45%, Malaysian ringgit 0.36%, Indonesian rupiah 0.23%, South Korean won 0.22%, Japanese yen 0.2%, Singapore dollar 0.17%, Philippines peso 0.12% and Hong Kong dollar 0.06%. However, Thai baht, China renminbi were down 0.05% each.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.217, down 0.07% from its previous close of 97.287.
Opec members and Russia had agreed to meet in March to discuss capping crude production at January levels with three other oil producers—Saudi Arabia, Russia and Qatar—to stabilise falling crude prices, Reuters reported.
Source : livemint.com
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