Rupee opens higher for fifth straight sessions

Indian rupee opened higher for fifth straight sessions against US dollar tracking gains in the local equities and Asian currencies markets.

Indian rupee opened higher for fifth straight sessions against US dollar tracking gains in the local equities and Asian currencies markets.

At 9.20am, the home currency was trading at 81.96 a dollar, up 0.14 percent from its previous close of 82.07. The benchmark Sensex rose 0.31 percent to 65765 points.

Overnight, the US producer price index exhibited a smaller-than-anticipated trend, mirroring the earlier trend observed in the consumer price index, by registering a marginal year-on-year increase of only 0.1%.

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"The US Dollar faced significant pressure following lower-than-expected inflation data, leading to a substantial rally in emerging market currencies. US inflation dropped to 3.0% year-on-year, down from the previous figure of 4%. US producer prices also showed smaller-than-expected. Additionally, the strengthening Chinese Yuan and Japanese Yen played a role in supporting the upward movement of the Rupee. The market's expectations indicate a belief that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to raise interest rates beyond July of this year", analysts said.

Asian currency markets were trading higher. Malaysian ringgit was up 1.25 percent, the South Korean won rose 0.77 percent, the Taiwan dollar 0.35 percent, the Japanese yen gained 0.33 percent, the Philippines peso 0.3 percent, the Singapore dollar climbed 0.28 percent, the Indonesian rupiah 0.14 percent, China renminbi 0.1 percent. Meanwhile, the Thai Baht fell 0.3 percent.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 99.66, down 0.11 percent from its previous close of 99.77.