Rupee trades marginally higher against dollar

rupee

The Indian rupee strengthened marginally against the dollar on June 14 morning, tracking gains in the local markets and ahead of the US Federal Reserve policy meetings.

At 9.05 am, the rupee was trading at 82.27 to a dollar, up 0.13 percent from its previous close of 82.38, the fourth straight session of gains.

The dollar weakened against most of its peers on speculation that the Federal Reserve will skip an interest rate hike at a policy on June 14.

An unexpected rate cut by China's central bank on June 12 and reports that Beijing is considering a broad stimulus package to boost the world's second-largest economy will also be closely tracked.

Data released on June 13 showed that CPI inflation in the US rose 0.1 percent in May, against a 0.4 percent jump in the previous month, with core inflation unchanged at 0.4 percent.

The data reinforced the belief that the Federal Reserve would maintain status quo on interest rates, as US stocks ended higher. The market seems to have overlooked the persistent nature of core inflation, which is closely monitored by the US Fed, traders said.

Asian currencies were trading mixed. Among gainers, the Thai Baht was up 0.17 percent, the Japanese yen 0.13 percent and the Hong Kong dollar gained 0.04 percent. Among losers, the South Korean won fell 0.34 percent, the Indonesian rupiah 0.16 percent and the Taiwan dollar and Malaysian ringgit were down 0.1 percent each.

The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 103.27, down 0.06 percent from its previous close of 103.38.