Dollar index News

At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local unit opened at 83.83, then gained ground to touch 83.82, registering a rise of 7 paise from its previous close. 

The dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.05 per cent lower at 104.19.

India's forex reserves increased by USD 6.396 billion to USD 642.492 billion for the week ended March 15, the Reserve Bank said.

Spot gold was up 0.1 percent at $1,295.3.

Gold is highly sensitive to rising rates, which lift the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets such as bullion, while boosting the dollar, in which it is priced.

A modest pick-up in the dollar demand, amid growing conviction that the Fed remains on track to raise interest rates further in 2017, largely put pressure on the local currency.

Stretching its strong recovery momentum for the third straight day, the rupee on Friday rose by 4 paise to a fresh one-week high of 64.44 against the US dollar on sustained selling of the American currency by exporters.

The rupee pared its early gains to trade down by 5 paise at 64.94 against the dollar on emergence of demand for the US currency from importers and banks despite higher local equities.

Gold prices edged up on Friday and were on track for their biggest weekly gain since mid-April as the dollar eased amid lingering political turbulence in the United States.

European equities dipped, with French shares, which hit 9 1/2-year highs on Friday, underperforming the wider market.

The rupee opened marginally lower at 64.30 against last Friday's level of 64.28 here today.

Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,252.20 per ounce by 0319 GMT, while US gold futures had dropped 0.2 percent to $1,254.30.

The rupee pared its early losses to rule steady at its overnight levels of 66.66 against the American currency in late morning deals bouts of dollar selling from banks and exporters.

In mid-afternoon Asian trade, US benchmark West Texas Intermediate for July was up 64 cents at $60.16 while Brent futures for August, a new contract, were up 35 cents at $64.30.

Toyota closed up 0.86 percent at 8,394.0 yen and factory robotics maker Fanuc rose 0.84 percent to 26,330.0 yen while Japan`s biggest bank Mitsubishi UFJ slipped 0.21 percent to 890.0 yen.

Europe`s main bourses picked after a slow start. The benchmark FTSEurofirst 300 was last up 0.6 percent, as hopes Greece was closing in on a deal with the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank. Greek stocks surged 7 percent.

The euro had less luck as talks on Greece showed no sign of reaching a deal. The single currency was off at $1.1254, from a high of $1.1387 set on Wednesday.

The dollar surged 0.6 percent against the Japanese currency to 122.36 yen, breaking above the 122 level for the first time since March 10 and reaching an eight-year peak. 

The dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, hit a more than three-month low.

Asian shares have fallen 3% after hitting a more than seven-year high on April. 29. On 6th May, MSCI`s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan slipped 0.3%, while Australian stocks fell 1.5%.