Rupee trades lower at 67.48 against US dollar.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Friday weakened against the US dollar, tracking losses in the Asian currencies markets as traders awaited US payroll data

The local currency opened at 67.47 a dollar. At 9.12am, the home currency was trading at 67.48, down 0.13% from its previous close of 67.40.

Most of the Asian currencies were trading lower as investors are cautious ahead of the US payroll data to get a clearer picture of the health of the world’s biggest economy.

Malaysian ringgit was down 0.69%, Indonesian rupiah 0.43%, South Korean won 0.38%, Taiwan dollar 0.13%, Philippines peso 0.11% and China renminbi 0.08%. However, Thai baht was up 0.07%, while Japanese yen and China offshore spot rose 0.05% each.

The consensus forecast for Friday’s non-farm payrolls data is for 175,000 job gains for June, according to a Reuters poll, but investors remained wary given the unexpected negative surprise in payrolls the previous month.

Overnight, the US data published was mostly positive. US private payrolls increased more than expected in June as small businesses ramped up hiring, and fewer Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 96.164, down 0.18% from its previous close of 96.328.

Oil prices fell 5% to two-month lows on Thursday after the US government reported a weekly crude draw within analysts’ forecasts that disappointed market bulls expecting larger declines.

India’s benchmark Sensex index rose 0.29% or 79.73 points to 27,281.22. So far this year, Sensex is up 4.15%.

So far this year, the rupee is down 1.85%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought $2.98 billion in equity and sold $1.85 billion in debt markets.

Meanwhile, India’s 10-year bond yield was trading at 7.374%, compared with Thursday’s close of 7.38%.

Source : livemint.com​