Rupee trades lower at 67.34 against US dollar.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Tuesday weakened marginally against the US dollar, tracking the losses in the Asian currencies market.

The local currency opened at 67.35 a dollar. At 9.12am, the home currency was trading at 67.34, down 0.12% from its previous close of 67.32.

Most Asian currencies dropped, led by South Korea’s won, as investors bought the yen and other safe haven assets ahead of the US payroll data.

South Korean won was down 0.54%, Malaysian ringgit 0.25%, Thai baht 0.17%, Singapore dollar 0.16%, Taiwan dollar 0.11%, China offshore 0.08% and China renminbi 0.06%. However, Japanese yen was up 0.45% and Indonesian rupiah rose 0.05%.

Investors hope that the central banks will provide stimulus to offset a likely downturn triggered by Brexit. The Bank of England has indicated it could provide stimulus measures to support the economy in the coming months. Many investors also expect the European Central Bank and the Bank of Japan to expand their monetary easing, Reuters reported.

India’s benchmark Sensex index rose 0.19% or 52.67 points to 27,331.43. So far this year, Sensex is up 4.45%.

All eyes will be on the Cabinet reshuffle today. This is the second time that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expanding his council of ministers since the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power in May 2014.

The Nikkei Service and Composite PMI data, compiled by Markit, will be out at 10.30am for the month of June today. The Service and Composite PMI were at 51 and 50.9, respectively, in May.

So far this year, the rupee is down 1.65%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought $2.92 billion in equity and sold $1.86 billion in debt markets.

Meanwhile, India’s 10-year bond yield was trading at 7.423%, compared with Monday’s close of 7.425%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.609, down 0.04% from its previous close of 95.649.

Markets will be closed on 6 July on account of Ramzan. The US markets were closed on Monday on account of the US Independence Day.

Source : livemint.com