Mumbai: The Indian rupee hit a three-week high against the US dollar in opening trade on Thursday, while the 10-year government bonds too hit a three-week high, after headline inflation fell to a record low and factory output growth slowed sharply, increasing hopes of a rate cut by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). The rupee opened and touched a high of 64.39 a dollar, a level last seen on 19 June. At 9.15am, the rupee was trading at 64.42 a dollar, up 0.19% from its Wednesday’s close of 64.59. Analysts expect that RBI will cut rates by at least 25 basis points during the monetary policy expected on 2 August, and also give a dovish outlook, raising bets of another rate cut in October. The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.618, down 0.15% from its previous close of 95.761.

Source: Mint July 13, 2017 03:59 UTC