At 9.15 am, the rupee was trading at 73.43 a dollar, down 0.21% from its Thursday’s close of 73.28

Indian rupee on Friday weakened marginally against US dollar after fiscal deficit widened and tracking losses in global equities and currencies markets. At 9.15 am, the home currency was trading at 73.43 a dollar, down 0.21% from its Thursday’s close of 73.28. The currency opened at 73.43 a dollar.

The 10-year gilt yield stood at 7.885%, from its previous close of 7.869%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

The government reported fiscal deficit of Rs 5.94 trillion for April-September or 95.3% of the budgeted target for the current fiscal year that ends in March 2019. The deficit was 91.3% of the full-year target during the same period a year ago.

So far this year, the rupee has declined 12.83%, while foreign investors have sold $4.88 billion and $8.73 billion in the equity and debt markets, respectively.

Asian currencies were trading lower. South Korean won was down 0.42%, Thai baht 0.35%, China Offshore 0.24%, China renminbi 0.22%, Singapore dollar 0.17%, Malaysian ringgit 0.17%, Indonesian rupiah 0.12%. However, Japanese yen was up 0.25%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 96.675, down 0.01% from its previous close of 96.679.

source: livemint.com