Rupee Climbs Past 70/Dollar, Hits 3-Month High

The Indian rupee rose as much as 77 paise in afternoon trade today and zoomed past 70 against the dollar for the first time in 3 months to hit an intraday high of 69.85/dollar. The bond yields at the same time are at the lowest level since May after the Asian stock markets rallied on US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's comments. Indian stock market benchmarks- BSE's Sensex and NSE's Nifty also opened higher at 36,081 and 10,809.15 respectively.

Powell said that the Federal Reserve's policy is right now "just below" a level that would neither break nor boost the US economy, signaling that the US interest rates will not see a hike in the coming monetary policy meet.

The rupee had closed at 70.62 against the dollar on Wednesday. The 10-year bond yield was at 7.61 percent at 10.30 am today down by 3 basis points.

Meanwhile, shares of technology firms were seen in red on the Nifty IT index in the morning session after the rupee gained. A stronger rupee is not very profitable for these companies that spend in domestic currency but earn in dollar terms from imports. The shares of Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Tata Elxsi Ltd, and TCS among others were seen trading lower than their previous close.