Rupee opens 9 paise up at 88.61/USD on Asian cues

Indian rupee

Indian rupee opened 9 paise up on October 31 tracking the rally in the Asian currencies.

The local currency opened at 88.6100 against the US dollar, as compared to 88.7038 against the greenback at previous close.

According to the Bloomberg data, Asian currencies such as Japanes Yen rose 0.14 percent, South Korean Won rose 0.13 percent, Indonesian Rupiah rose 0.11 percent, Malaysian Ringgit, Thai Baht, and Singapore Dollar rose each 0.06 percent, and Hong Kong Dollar by 0.02 percent.

Asian currencies rebounded after much-anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping which led to reduced tariffs on Chinese goods.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday said that tariffs on China will be slashed to 47% from 57%, adding that Washington and Beijing have reached a conclusion on many important points regarding trade, including the sensitive rare earths issue.

Speaking to reporters from Air Force One after talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in South Korea, Trump said that US will slash fentanyl tariffs on Beijing to 10% from 20%.

He added that the rare earths issue with China has also been settled, with US signing a one-year trade pact with Beijing. “We focused on export controls of China on rare earth, and they’re going to keep those flowing, which is quite important,” Trump said.

He added that there’s no roadblock at all on rare earths, asserting that it will "hopefully disappear from our vocabulary for a little while.”

"The Rupee is expected to trade in the range of 88.40 to 89.00 for the day with 88.80
expected to be protected by the RBI. Exporters need to use the opportunity to sell dollars and hedge their positions at least for 1-2 months like importers did at 87.60 levels," said Anil Kumar Bhansali Anil Kumar Bhansali, Head of Treasury at Finrex Treasury Advisors LLP.