The rupee on Friday closed three-week stronger against the US dollar, ignoring the drop in most Asian peers, as traders cite inflows related to Bharti Airtel’s rights share issue which opened Friday.

The rupee ended stronger for fourth consecutive sessions at 69.22 a dollar, up 0.20% from its previous close of 69.36. The Indian currency had opened at 69.40 a dollar.

The 10-year bond yield traded at 7.393% compared with Tuesday's close of 7.387%.

Bharti Airtel plans to raise as much as ₹320 billion ($4.6 billion) to build a war chest to fend off competition, 'Bloomberg' reported.

Traders are now focusing on Friday’s release of US payrolls data, which is expected to show a tight labour market that is pressuring firms to boost wages. The other key area of attention will be US-China trade talk developments.

So far this year, the rupee has weakened 0.7%. During the period, foreign investors bought $9.77 billion in equity and sold $301.3 million in debt market.

India's benchmark Sensex Index fell 0.05% to 38963.26 points. Year to date, the index has risen 8.22%.

Other Asian currencies traded lower. South Korean won was down 0.28%, Indonesian rupiah eased 0.2%, The Philippines peso 0.19% lower, Thai Baht was down 0.11%, and the Malaysian ringgit fell 0.09%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against a basket of major currencies, was at 97.82, up 0.02% from its previous close of 97.832.

Published On : 03-05-2019

Source : Live Mint