Rupee opens lower at 69 a dollar, bond yields rise

The rupee opened lower against the greenback on Wednesday, as a stronger US dollar weighed on the domestic unit.

At 09:10 AM, the rupee was trading at 68.92 a dollar, down 6 paise from its Tuesday’s close of 68.86. The home currency opened at 69.00 and touched a high and a low of 68.92 and 69.01 a dollar, respectively.

The Indian currency has been riding high on massive liquidity push in form of strong foreign fund inflows in March. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) pumped in Rs 150.40 crore on a net basis Monday, provisional data showed.

Globally, the dollar held gains as a recovery in investor risk appetite curbed further jfall in US bond yields.

The dollar index versus a basket of six major currencies was steady at 96.765 after edging up nearly 0.2 percent overnight.

In commodity markets, oil prices edged lower after an industry report showed an unexpected rise in U.S. crude inventories.

International Brent was down by 12 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $67.85 by 0010 GMT. On Tuesday, the global benchmark rose 76 cents to $67.97 a barrel, not far below its year-to-date high of $68.69, reached on March 21.

In debt markets, the yields on the 10-year government bonds were up 0.22 percent to 7.34 percent from its previous close of 7.32 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.