The Indian rupee on Wednesday weakened against the US dollar, tracking the greenback’s strength against Asian currencies.

The local currency opened at 63.435. At 9.08am, the home currency was trading at 63.455, down 0.26%, from previous close of 63.2925 on the expectations that US interest rates will go up next year.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, rose to a five year high on Tuesday, now trading at 90.035, down 0.03%, from the previous close of 90.064.

Most of the Asian currencies were trading lower. Taiwanese Dollar lost 0.380% , South Korean Won lost 0.080%, Philippines Peso down 0.090%, Malaysian Ringgit lost 0.043%, Hong Kong Dollar lost 0.024%, and Indonesian Rupiah lost 0.016%.

10-year bond yield was trading at 7.937% compared with its Tuesday’s close of 7.922%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has lost 2.61%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $42.65 billion during the period from local equity and bond markets.

Source:livemint.com