The Indian rupee on Wednesday strengthened against the dollar, tracking gains in the local equity and Asian currencies markets.
Traders are cautious ahead of the railway budget on Thursday and national budget on 28 February. Also traders will keep an eye on annual economic outlook survey on Friday.
The local unit opened at 62.05 per dollar and touched a high of 62.03—a last level seen on 10 February. At 9.11am, the home currency was trading at 62.02, up 0.28% from previous close of 62.20.
The Sensex Index rose 0.33% or 96.46 points to 29,101.12 points.Major Asian currencies were trading higher against the dollar after Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen suggested the Fed would not rush into raising interest rates, Reuters reported.

Janet Yellen told the Senate Banking Committee that the US central bank was preparing to consider interest rate hikes “on a meeting-by-meeting basis, it added.The South Korean won was up 0.68%, Taiwan dollar up 0.53%, Malaysian ringgit 0.53%, Philippines peso 0.28%, Japanese yen 0.24%, Indonesian rupiah 0.23%, Singapore dollar 0.07%. However, China offshore spot was down 0.15%, Thai baht 0.11%, China renminbi 0.06%.\

The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 7.707% compared with its Tuesday’s close of 7.718%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has gained 1.35%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $3.25 billion from local equity and $5.05 billion from bond markets.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, trading at 94.358, down 0.15% from the previous close of 94.493.

Source:- livemint.com