BackRupee closes little changed against US dollar
The rupee closed at 67.02 per dollar, down 0.01% from its previous close of 67.02
Premium. Photo: Pradeep Gaur/ Mint
Mumbai: The rupee on Wednesday rebounded from its three-week low post the Bank of Japan (BoJ) monetary policy announcement and ahead of the US Federal Reserve meeting decision.
The currency closed at 67.02 per dollar, down 0.01% from its previous close of 67.02. The rupee opened at 67 per dollar and touched a low of 67.14, a level last seen on 29 August.
The Fed will announce its policy decision later on Wednesday, with a news conference by chair Janet Yellen. China is also due to announce its August trade data on Wednesday for metals, including refined copper, nickel and zinc.
According to Bloomberg estimates, the US central bank will hold off raising interest rates after US employers added fewer jobs than forecast in August and growth in services slowed.
The BoJ shifted the focus of its monetary stimulus away from a rigid target for expanding the supply of money, to controlling the shape of yields across different maturities. Governor Haruhiko Kuroda led his board in keeping the benchmark rate for a share of bank reserves at negative 0.1%. The central bank said that the monetary base target, which had previously been set at annual increases of 80 trillion yen ($780 billion), may now fluctuate in the short term as policymakers seek to control the yield curve, according to Bloomberg.
India’s benchmark Sensex index fell 15.78 points, or 0.06%, to close at 28,507.42. So far this year, it has gained 9.15%.
The 10-year bond yield closed at 6.85% compared with Tuesday’s close of 6.888%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
The rupee is down 1.29% till date this year, while foreign institutional investors have bought $6.51 billion in equity and sold $511.40 million in debt markets.
Most Asian currencies were trading lower. The Taiwanese dollar was down 0.19%, Philippines peso 0.13% and Malaysian ringgit 0.07%. However, the Japanese yen gained 0.53%, Singapore dollar 0.169%, Thai baht 0.072% and Indonesian rupiah 0.06%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.921, down 0.10% from its previous close of 96.019.
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