Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Wednesday strengthened against the US dollar ahead of the US Federal Reserve’s policy outcome. This is the second session when the rupee is trading higher.

At 2.04pm, the home currency was trading at 66.44, up 0.12% from its previous close of 66.52. The rupee opened at 66.55 a dollar and touched a high and a low of 66.44 and 66.60, respectively.

India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 0.18% or 47.60 points to 26,053.53 points. So far this year, Sensex is down 0.16%.

Most Asian currencies were trading higher. Malaysian ringgit was up 0.4%, South Korean won 0.24%, Japanese yen 0.18%, Singapore dollar 0.18% and Philippines peso 0.13%. However, China offshore spot was down 0.05%

The Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) will meet and announce their monetary policy decisions. Analysts expect that the BoJ meeting on Thursday will be reactionary and dependent on the stance laid out at the Fed on Wednesday.

Other data this week include first-quarter growth figures for the UK, the US and the Eurozone, issued on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, respectively, Reuters reported.

India’s 10-year bond yield was trading at 7.46%, as compared with its Tuesday’s close of 7.472%.

So far this year, the rupee gained 0.43%, while foreign institutional investors bought $1.61 billion from the local equity market and sold $312 million in debt markets.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 94.356, down 0.23% from its previous close of 94.573.

Source :livemint.com