Mumbai: The Indian rupee on Thursday strengthened for the second consecutive session against the US dollar, after the local equity market gained for the third session.

At 2.05pm, the home currency was trading at 67.24, up 0.15% from its previous close of 67.34. The rupee opened at 67.33 per US dollar and touched a high of 67.22, a level last seen on 19 May.

India’s benchmark Sensex index rose 1.29% or 327.23 points to 26,208.40. Since the last three days, Sensex has gained 3.9% or 980 points. So far this year, Sensex has gained 0.2%.

The gains in Asian peers also boosted the sentiment for the rupee.

Most Asian currencies gained today. Indonesian rupiah was up 0.31%, Malaysian ringgit 0.2%, Philippines peso 0.2%, Thai baht 0.19%, Japanese yen 0.15% and Taiwan dollar 0.05%. However, South Korean won was down 0.07% and China renminbi 0.05%.

So far this year, the rupee has weakened 1.6%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have bought $1.84 billion from the local equity market and sold $1.14 billion in debt markets.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.271, down 0.09% from its previous close of 95.354.

Meanwhile, India’s 10-year bond yield was trading at 7.467%, as compared with its Wednesday’s close of 7.464%.

Source:.livemint.com