India’s rupee climbed to a six-month high, extending a rally that’s made it Asia’s top-performing currency this year, as foreigners continued their purchases of local bonds ahead of the nation’s inclusion into global debt indexes.
A weaker dollar spurred by a batch of soft US jobs data and congressional testimony by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell also supported emerging Asian currencies.
The currency gained 0.1% to 82.7250 per dollar on Thursday, the highest since September 4. It has advanced 0.5% this year, setting the stage for a strong 2024, while all other Asian peers have declined.
A combination of “corporate repatriation flows, heavy inflows in the debt market and also weakness in the dollar,” is driving the rupee higher, said Anindya Banerjee, currency analyst at Kotak Securities.
The advance came as global investors plowed $5 billion into Indian bonds this year, with government securities luring the bulk of the flows.
