The Indian rupee on Wednesday closed marginally stronger against the US dollar tracking the gains in the Asian currencies markets.

The rupee closed at 66.68 against the US dollar, up 0.07% from its previous close of 66.73. The home currency opened at 66.69 a dollar. So far this year, it fell 0.85%.

Most Asian currencies closed higher following government data that showed the Chinese economy grew in line with expectations for the July-September quarter.

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South Korean won was up 0.56%, Japanese yen 0.51%, Philippines peso 0.4%, Thai baht 0.4%, Malaysian ringgit 0.19%, Indonesian rupiah 0.13%, Chinese yuan 0.07%, Taiwan dollar 0.06%. However, Singapore dollar was down 0.08%.

India’s benchmark Sensex index closed at 27,984.37 points, down 0.24% or 66.51 points from its previous close. So far this year, it has gained 7.15%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought $7.42 billion.

India’s new monetary policy committee (MPC) was concerned about economic growth, and saw the downturn in retail inflation and slack in the economy as an opportunity to cut the key policy rate, according to the minutes of its first meeting released on Tuesday. All members leaned heavily on the Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) staff surveys and reviews, which some analysts saw as a negative.

The goods and services tax (GST) council worked out a compensation formula for states and is now bracing for a testy debate on rates. The Centre has proposed a tiered rate structure with the rates varying from 4% for commodities like gold to 26% plus cess on so-called sin goods.

Since 3 October to 17 October, FIIs sold $1.15 billion in debt and so far this year they have sold $886.60 million.

The benchmark 10-year government bond yield closed at 6.732% compared to Tuesday’s close of 6.722%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.76, down 0.13% from its previous close of 97.895.

Numbers released by the National Bureau of Statistics in China showed the third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 6.7% on-year and 1.8% on-quarter. Among other data released on Wednesday, China’s fixed-asset investment increased 8.2% nominally on-year in the January-September period, retail sales were up 10.7% on-year in September and industrial production increased by 6.1% on-year in September, missing markets’ expectation for a 6.4% rise, Reuters reported.

Sources :.livemint.com