The rupee opened modestly higher versus the US dollar in barely traded volumes ahead of critical GDP and exit polls anticipated later on November 30. The domestic currency was trading at 83.32 per dollar at 9:10 a.m., up 0.02 percent from the previous close of 83.33.
Oil prices fell due to fresh demand concerns following China's November Manufacturing PMI of 49.4 and Services PMI of 50.2, both of which were below expectations. Before the OPEC+ meetings, Brent oil hit $82.85 per barrel.
US GDP is expected to be 5.2 percent in the third quarter, as the dollar lost ground in anticipation of higher US yields. Traders believe that $1 billion in MSCI rebalancing flows will keep the dollar restricted to a band of 83.25 to 83.40. Markets are anticipating the release of the important US PCE price index, as well as India's budget deficit and GDP data later today, both of which are keenly scrutinized by the Fed.
Asian currencies were trading in a range. China Offshore increased 0.21 percent, the Japanese yen rose 0.12 percent, the Singapore dollar jumped 0.1 percent, and the South Korean won rose 0.04 percent. Among the losers were the Indonesian rupiah, which lost 0.61 percent, the Taiwan dollar, which fell 0.19 percent, the Thai baht, which fell 0.16 percent, and the Philippine peso, which declined 0.13 percent.
The dollar index, which measures the strength of the US dollar against a basket of international currencies, was trading at 102.80, up 0.03 percent from its previous finish of 102.77.
