The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 7.788% compared with its Friday’s close of 7.807%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/Mint

The Indian rupee on Monday opened stronger against the US dollar on improved fiscal deficit data released on Friday . At 9.14am, the home currency was trading at 63.96, up 0.28% from its previous close of 64.14. The local unit opened at 63.99 per dollar and touched a high and a low of 63.95 and 64, respectively.

Most of the Asian currencies were trading mixed. South Korean won was up 0.55%, Indonesian rupiah 0.32%, Taiwan dollar 0.23% and Philippines peso 0.13%. However, Thai baht was down 0.15% and Japanese yen, Malaysian ringgit and Singapore dollar were trading lower at 0.1% each.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) policy meet is on Tuesday and it is widely expected to keep policy rates unchanged.

The yield on India’s 10-year benchmark bond was trading at 7.788% compared with its Friday’s close of 7.807%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

Brent crude has fallen in 11 out of 13 sessions. Since 10 July, the Brent has fallen 9.5%.

India’s fiscal deficit during April-June touched Rs.2.87 trillion ($44.86 billion) or 51.6% of the target for the 2015-16 fiscal year ending in March 2016, government data showed on Friday. The deficit was 56.1% during the same period a year ago.

Since the beginning of this year, the rupee has lost 1.7%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $7.1 billion from local equity and $6.36 billion from bond markets.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.28, down 0.06% from its previous close of 97.336.

Source:livemint.com