The Indian rupee was trading little changed against the US dollar on Thursday tracking mixed trend in other Asian currencies ahead of European Central Bank meeting.

The Indian currency opened at 68.99 a dollar. At 9.12am, it traded at 69.99, down 0.03% from its previous close of 68.98.

Yield on the 10-year government bond was at 6.434% compared with Wednesday's close of 6.463%.

Analysts are pricing in a 35% chance of a 10-basis-point rate cut at Thursday’s European Central Bank (ECB) meeting, while debt markets have surged to record highs since its President Mario Draghi raised the prospect of fresh stimulus last month. Most analysts, however, expect the ECB to hold fire this week to see the extent of a predicted cut by the Federal Reserve next week and whether economic data recovers.

In pre-trade, benchmark equity index Sensex was up 0.16% at 38045.13 points. So far this year, the index has risen 5%.

The rupee has risen 1.14% against the greenback in the year so far. Foreign investors bought $9.45 billion in Indian equities and $2.56 billion in the debt market during the period.

Other Asian currencies were trading mixed. Philippines peso was up 0.14%, Indonesian rupiah rose 0.09%, and Taiwan dollar gained 0.05%. However, South Korean won was down 0.18% and China renminbi fell 0.05%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against a basket of major currencies, was at 97.719, down 0.01% from its previous close of 97.729.

Published On : 25-07-2019

Source : Live Mint