The Indian rupee on Monday weakened against the US dollar ahead of key gross domestic product (GDP) data for the June quarter due at 5.30pm on Monday.

At 9.06am, the home currency was trading at 66.24, down 0.11%, from its previous close of 66.16. The local unit opened at 66.27 per US dollar and touched a high and a low of 66.21 and 66.27, respectively.

According to Bloomberg estimates, GDP may be at 7.4% for the June quarter as against 7.5% in the March quarter. The benchmark Sensex index rose 0.21% or 54.85 points to 26,447.24 points.

The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 7.78% compared with its Friday’s close of 7.777%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has lost 4.7%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought $4.54 billion from local equity and $6.26 billion from bond markets.

Most Asian currencies were trading lower. South Korean won was down 0.78%, Taiwan dollar 0.77%, Indonesian rupiah 0.47%, Singapore dollar 0.27%, Philippines peso 0.26% and Thai baht 0.15%. However, Japanese yen was up 0.5%, China offshore spot 0.32%, China renminbi 0.2% and Malaysian ringgit 0.12%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.761, down 0.35% from its previous close of 96.106.

Asian markets were trading lower. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was down 0.79%, China’s Shanghai Composite was trading 2.8% lower and Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average was up 1.05%.

On Friday, US stocks ended a tumultuous week with a flat close on Friday as investors shrugged off concerns that a September rate hike was more likely than some investors expected, said a Reuters report. The S&P 500 gained 0.06%, Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.07% and Nasdaq Composite was up 0.32%.

Source:livemint.com