Mumbai:The Indian rupee on Thursday weakened to a fresh low against US dollar after government cut excise duty second time in a week and tracking sell-off in global markets. At 9.15 am, the home currency was trading at 74.41 a dollar, down 0.26% from its Wednesday’s close of 74.22. The currency opened at 74.31 and touched a fresh low of 74.46 a dollar.
The benchmark 10-year government bond yield stood at 7.999% from its previous close of 8.031%. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.
The cut in excise duty raised worries of fiscal slippage among the traders. The government on Wednesday cut excise duty on jet fuel from 14% to 11% to help keep airfares under check and to give relief to airlines troubled by high fuel prices. Last week, the government cut excise duty on petrol and diesel by Rs 1.50 a litre.
Global markets fell amid a rout in technology and industrial shares.
The benchmark index Sensex fell 2% or 700 points to 34,064.05 points. So far this year, the rupee has declined 14.3%, while foreign investors have sold $3.69 billion and $7.65 billion in the equity and debt markets, respectively.
Asian markets were trading sharply lower today. South Korean won was down 0.89%, Taiwan dollar 0.44%, Indonesian rupiah 0.43%, China Offshore 0.22%, Malaysian ringgit 0.16%, China renminbi 0.11%, Philippines peso 0.1%. However, Japanese yen was up 0.15%, Singapore dollar 0.10%.
The dollar index, which measures the US currency’s strength against major currencies, was trading at 95.235, down 0.29% from its previous close of 95.508.