Rupee opens marginally lower at 61.79 per dollar - Livemint

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has gained 0.15%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $15.31 billion during the period from local equity markets. Photo: AFP

Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Tuesday weakened marginally after data on Monday showed higher trade deficit in October due to lower exports. Mixed Asian currencies also muted down the sentiment.

The local unit opened at 61.79 per dollar. At 9.10am, the home currency was trading at 61.81, down 0.12% from previous close of 61.74, while India’s equity benchmark Sensex index was trading at 28,209.03 points on BSE, up 0.11%.

Most of the Asian currencies were trading mixed. Indonesian rupiah was up 0.48%, Singapore dollar rose 0.1%, Thai baht gained 0.1%, Japanese yen rose 0.07%. South Korean won was trading down 0.43%, Malaysian ringgit fell 0.1%, Taiwan dollar slipped 0.8%, Philippines peso down 0.06%.

India’s merchandise exports contracted in October—the first time this fiscal year—exerting pressure on the country’s trade deficit even as gold imports surged, forcing the government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to consider further curbs on imports of the precious metal.

India’s trade deficit in October widened to $13.4 billion as compared to $10.6 billion in October, government data showed on Monday. Merchandise imports up nearly 3.62% year-on-year to $39.50 billion. Exports, meanwhile, fell 5.04% on year to $26.1 billion.

Bond yield fell after recent declaration in both wholesale price index (WPI)-based and consumer price index (CPI)-based inflation boosted the speculations that Reserve Bank of India my cut the interest rates.

Also PTI reported on Monday that finance minister Arun Jaitley said, lower cost of capital will give a “good fillip” to economy.

The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 8.168%, compared with its Monday’s close of 8.183%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

The WPI inflation for the month of October was at 1.77%, slowest pace since September 2009. while retail inflation moderated to 5.52% in October, compared with 6.46% in September, mainly on account of easing vegetable and fuel prices.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has gained 0.15%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $15.31 billion during the period from local equity markets.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 87.801, down 0.14% from the previous close of 87.926.