Mumbai: The rupee strengthened against the US dollar ahead of the key macroeconomic data due later on Monday.

The rupee opened at 64 a dollar. At 9.15am, the rupee was trading at 63.96 a dollar, up 0.27% from its Friday’s close of 64.14.

The government will issue wholesale price index (WPI) inflation and consumer price index (CPI) inflation data for July due later 12pm and 5.30pm, respectively. According to Bloomberg analysts’ estimates, CPI will be at 2% in July against 1.54% a month ago while WPI will be at 1.4% in July versus 0.9% last month.

Traders are cautious as the week is getting shortened with mere three market working days—14, 16 and 18 August. Markets will be closed on 15 August for Independence day, and on 17 August for Parsi New Year.

The benchmark Sensex index rose 0.09% or 26.74 points to 31,240.33. So far this year, it has risen over 17%.

The 10-year bond yield was at 6.497%, compared to its previous close of 6.507%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

So far this year, the rupee has gained 6.5%, while foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought $8.76 billion and $19.07 billion in equity and debt markets, respectively.

Asian currencies were trading higher. South Korean won was up 0.48%, Taiwan dollar 0.14%, Indonesian rupiah 0.13%, Malaysian ringgit 0.09%, Singapore dollar 0.08% and China renminbi 0.08%. However, Japanese yen was down 0.16% and Thai baht 0.05%.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 93.085, up 0.02% from its previous close of 93.069.
Source:livemint.com