Rupee trades lower at 67.59 against US dollar.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Wednesday weakened for the third session against the US dollar as dollar outflows from local debt and stock markets persisted.

The local currency opened at 67.58 a dollar. At 9.15am, the home currency was trading at 67.59, down 0.14% from its previous close of 67.49. So far this year, the rupee has weakened 2.1%

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have been pulling out of Indian bonds and shares ahead of a crucial vote on Thursday whether Britain should exit the European Union. The sell-off by foreign investors has exacerbated following Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Raghuram Rajan’s decision to not continue for a second term.

So far this year, FIIs have sold $1.55 billion in debt markets. On Monday, FIIs sold $342.66 million in debt and $78.27 million in equity.

Overnight, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen, in a testimony before lawmakers, said the Fed is on watch for “whether” the economy would show clear signs of improvement, a subtle change from less than a week ago when she said they were waiting to see “when” it would.

India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 0.16% or 42.63 points to 26,824.29. So far this year, Sensex is up 2.2%. Year-to-date, FIIs have bought $2.75 billion from the local equity market.

Meanwhile, India’s 10-year bond yield was trading at 7.488%, compared with Tuesday’s close of 7.496%.

Asian currencies were trading mixed. Japanese yen was up 0.3%, South Korean won 0.13% and China renminbi 0.1%. However, Philippines peso was down 0.4%, Indonesian rupiah 0.27% and Thai baht 0.1%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 93.925, down 0.1% from its previous close of 94.017.

Source : livemint.com​