Sunday 18 January 2015

Rupee Strengthens 0.4% To 61.64 Per Dollar

The Indian rupee on Monday strengthened for the third consecutive session against the dollar after the government raised excise duty on both petrol and diesel on Friday.At 9.12am, the Indian currency was trading at 61.64 per dollar, up 0.38%. The rupee had opened at 61.62 per dollar compared with its previous close of 61.87.

The four excise duty hikes will result in about Rs.20,000 crore in additional revenue this fiscal year and will help the government meet its fiscal deficit target of 4.1% of gross domestic product (GDP).The buying by foreign institutional investors in equity and debt on Thursday and Friday also boosted sentiment on hopes that such buying will continue even this week. Since Thursday and Friday, FIIs bought Indian equities worth Rs.2,838.17 crore, BSE and NSE provisional data showed.


India’s benchmark equity index, BSE Sensex, was trading at 28,250 points, up 0.45%.The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond stood at 7.715% compared with its Friday’s close of 7.707%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.


Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has strengthened 2.3% against the dollar, while foreign institutional investors have sold $41.3 million during the period from local equity markets and bought $1,803.3 million from debt markets.


Asian currencies were trading mixed against the dollar. The Japanese yen was up 0.41%, Taiwan dollar 0.18% and China offshore spot 0.16%. However, Malaysian ringgit was down 0.17%, China renminbi 0.11%, South Korean won 0.1% and the Indonesian rupiah 0.06%.


The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 92.69, up 0.18% from its previous close of 92.52.


Source:- livemint.com





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