Rupee trades lower at 67.41 against US dollar.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Tuesday weakened against the US dollar from its previous close. This is the second session of weakness after Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan on Saturday said that he did not want a new term as governor.

The local currency opened at 67.40 a dollar. At 9.14am, the home currency was trading at 67.41, down 0.12% from its previous close of 67.32.

Rajan’s departure is seen negative for the currency markets in particular which are dealing with other uncertainties such as the upcoming vote on Britain’s exit from the euro zone and the impending redemptions of foreign currency non-resident (FCNR) deposits. Rajan’s exit adds to these uncertainties.

India’s benchmark Sensex index rose 0.06% or 17.44 points to 26,884.36. So far this year, Sensex is up 2.5%.

Meanwhile, India’s 10-year bond yield was trading at 7.495%, compared with Monday’s close of 7.496%.

So far this year, the rupee has weakened 1.8%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought $2.82 billion from the local equity market and sold $1.11 billion in debt markets.

Most Asian currencies were trading mixed after surging on Monday, as confidence that Britain will remain in the European Union appeared to be waning just two days before the historic vote. Developing nations’ stocks were up slightly following the biggest jump in almost three months, led by the Shanghai Composite Index, after two separate polls gave differing results on whether the UK would stay or go, Bloomberg reported.

South Korean won was up 0.33%, Malaysian ringgit 0.21%, China renminbi 0.11% and China offshore 0.08%. However, Philippines peso was down 0.27%, Indonesian rupiah 0.12% and Japanese yen fell 0.1%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 93.542, down 0.07% from its previous close of 93.611.

Source : livemint.com