The yield on India's 10-year benchmark bond was at 7.794% compared with its Friday's close of 7.796%. Photo: Mint
Mumbai: The rupee weakened against the dollar on Monday afternoon on possible demand for the US currency by defence and oil marketing companies, even as the fall in local equities market weighed on sentiment.
The local unit had opened at 62.54 per dollar and touched a low of 62.80, a level last seen on 16 March.
At 2.15pm, the rupee was trading at 62.77, down 0.65% from its previous close of 62.37.
India's trade deficit widened, numbers released on Friday showed. The deficit widened to $11.8 billion in March due to falling exports and an increase in gold imports. Imports contracted by 13.44% to $35.74 billion in March. Merchandise exports stood at $23.95 billion, down 21.06% from $30.34 billion a year earlier.
A fall in local equity markets for the fourth consecutive session and surge in international crude oil prices dampened sentiment. According to currency dealers, dollar demand was reasonably high in the market from oil marketing and defence-related companies.
In the last four trading sessions, the Sensex has lost over 950 points. Since 13 January, Brent crude oil prices are up 36% to $63 a barrel.
The S&P BSE Sensex index fell 1.2% to 28,533.40 points. Brent crude oil was trading at $63.68, up 0.4%.
The yield on India's 10-year benchmark bond was at 7.794% compared with its Friday's close of 7.796%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
Since the start of 2015, the rupee has gained 0.6%, while foreign institutional investors have bought $6.3 billion from local equity markets and $7.01 billion from bond markets.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency's strength against major currencies, was trading at 97.537, down 0.01% from the previous close of 97.52.
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