Rupee weakens to 66.86 per dollar ahead of GST bill passage.

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Wednesday weakened against the US dollar, after local equity markets fell over 200 points, ahead of the introduction of the Constitution amendment bill to roll out the goods and services tax (GST) in the upper house of Parliament on Wednesday.

At 10.55am, the home currency was trading at 66.86 a dollar, down 0.18% from its previous close of 66.74. The rupee opened at 66.70 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 66.70 and 66.86, respectively.

With the government successfully stitching together a political consensus on the GST bill, Rajya Sabha is set to endorse the legislation to roll out the landmark tax reform that will create a common market of 1.25 billion people.

The key to forging consensus was the amendment the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) effected in the bill, a copy of which was circulated among Rajya Sabha members on Tuesday, Mint reported.

India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 0.71% or 201 points to 27,783.82. So far this year, it gained 7.14%.

So far this year, the rupee is down 1%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought $4.74 billion in equity and sold $868.80 million in debt markets.

Meanwhile, India’s 10-year bond yield was at 7.193%, as compared with its Tuesday’s close of 7.177%.

Most Asian currencies declined as investors scaled back stimulus expectations and cut back on demand for emerging market assets amid falling oil prices.

Malaysian ringgit was down 0.69%, Japanese yen 0.34%, South Korean won 0.18%, Indonesian rupiah 0.15%, Singapore dollar 0.1%, Taiwan dollar 0.07% and China Offshore spot fell 0.05%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.215, up 0.16% from its previous close of 95.064.

Source : livemint.com