The Indian rupee on Friday was trading marginally lower against the US dollar, tracking the losses in local equity markets.

At 2pm, the home currency was trading at 67.06 a dollar, down 0.04% from its previous close of 67.04. The rupee opened at 67.04 a dollar and touched a high of 66.98, a level last seen on 15 July.

India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 0.35% or 98.93 points to 28,109.69. So far this year, it gained 7.8%.

Asian currencies were mixed. The yen surged Friday after the Bank of Japan made minor tweaks to its stimulus programme that disappointed dealers who had expected a big announcement to kickstart growth in the world’s number three economy. The central bank said it would boost its exposure to riskier investments, but left a massive ¥80 trillion ($772 billion) annual bond-buying programme unchanged.

Japanese yen was up 1.41%, South Korean won 0.38%, Singapore dollar 0.18% and China renminbi 0.15%. However, Malaysian ringgit was down 0.76%, Philippines peso 0.14% and Indonesian rupiah 0.12%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 96.42, down 0.32% from its previous close of 96.739.

So far this year, the rupee is down 1.35%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $4.31 billion in equity and sold $834 million in debt markets.

Meanwhile, India’s 10-year bond yield was at 7.19% as compared with its Thursday’s close of 7.191%.

Source:livemint.com