Rupee unchanged against US dollar in opening trade, bond yields fall

The rupee opened little changed against the greenback on Friday, a day after it closed at nearly two-and-a-half-month-low of 70.51 against the US currency.

At 09:10 AM, the rupee was trading at 70.44 a dollar, up 7 paise from its Monday’s close of 70.52. The home currency opened at 70.51 and touched a high and a low of 70.42 and 70.51 a dollar, respectively.

Investor sentiment took a beating amid a fresh deterioration in the Sino-US tariff war.

China said would impose higher tariffs on a range of US goods, a move that followed Washington's decision last week to hike its own levies on $200 billion in Chinese imports.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday he would meet Chinese President Xi Jinping next month as the trade war between the world's two largest economies intensified, reported Reuters.

In the currency market, the dollar strengthened 0.25 percent against the Japanese currency to 109.57.

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major rivals, was slightly higher at 97.352.

In commodity markets, oil prices were moving higher, though gains were checked amid an escalation in the trade war between the United States and China.

International Brent crude futures were at $70.30 a barrel at 0318 GMT, up 7 cents, or 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, foreign investors remained net sellers in the capital markets, offloading shares worth Rs 1,056.01 crore Monday, provisional exchange data showed.

In debt markets, the yields on the 10-year government bonds were down 0.32 percent to 7.37 percent from its previous close of 7.39 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.