The Indian rupee weakened against the US dollar as crude oil prices surged after an escalation in US-Iran tensions. The rupee traded at 72.02 a dollar, down 0.28 per cent from Tuesday’s close of 71.83. The Indian unit had opened at 72.02 and touched a low of 72.03. Oil surged above $71 a barrel after Iran fired rockets at a joint US-Iraqi airbase, reigniting fears that the killing of a top Iranian general will trigger a wider conflict in West Asia that could disrupt global crude supplies. GDP is expected to expand 5 per cent in the fiscal year to March 2020, the slowest since at least 2013, government estimates showed on Tuesday. That’s in line with a Bloomberg survey and compares with a 6.8 per cent expansion in the previous year. The yield on the 10-year government bond was at 6.58 per cent compared with its previous close of 6.554 per cent. In pre-opening trade, the benchmark Sensex was down 0.42 per cent or 172.48 points at 40696.99 points. Year to date, the index has lost 1.5 per cent.
Asian currencies were trading lower. South Korean won was down 0.4 per cent, Indonesian rupiah 0.32 per cent, Malaysian ringgit 0.32 per cent, and the Philippines peso 0.17 per cent. Thai Baht was up 0.18 per cent, Japanese yen 0.1 per cent, China Renminbi 0.05 per cent, and Taiwan dollar 0.05 per cent.
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