The rupee opened slightly higher against the dollar on Friday, a day after the Reserve Bank in a widely expected move cut key interest rates by 0.25 percentage point.
NSE
To boost the sagging economy, the RBI Thursday lowered its benchmark lending rate to a nearly nine-year low of 5.75 per cent and changed its monetary policy stance to accommodative, leaving space for future rate cuts.
At 09:10 AM, the rupee was trading at 69.24 a dollar, up 4 paise from its Thursday’s close of 69.28. The home currency opened at 69.24 and touched a high and a low of 69.19 and 69.25 a dollar, respectively.
In the currency market, the dollar was under pressure on Friday and was poised for its worst weekly performance for the year, as investors waited on a key US jobs report.
Market participants’ immediate focus was on the US non-farm payrolls data for May due later on Friday.
Against a basket of six peers, the dollar was a shade lower at 97.029, trading about 0.3 percent above an eight-week low of 96.749 brushed on Wednesday.
In commodity markets, oil prices regained a little ground after a rough week but was still vulnerable to worries about global demand and oversupply.
Brent crude futures bounced 59 cents to $62.26, but were still down 3.5 percent for the week so far, while U.S. crude firmed 58 cents at $53.17 a barrel.
Foreign funds pulled out Rs 416.08 crore in the capital markets on a net basis Tuesday, provisional data showed.
In debt markets, the yields on the 10-year government bonds were up 0.27 percent to 6.95 percent from its previous close of 6.93 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.