The Rupee opened weaker at Friday's open, with the oil rally gathering pace, pushing U.S. Treasury ?yields higher and fuelling risk aversion. The currency has already lost about 1% over the past three sessions, and a ?further slide would wipe out the rally that the Reserve Bank of ?India had helped foster. The central bank, buoyed by much higher-than-expected deposit ?inflows from overseas Indians, had helped propel the rupee from near 95.70 ?to a two-month high of 94.30 last week. That move is now coming under pressure ?from oil prices. Brent crude surged more than 6% on Thursday and extended its advance to near $110 a barrel in Asian trading, on intensifying attacks along key shipping routes in the Middle ?East. The dollar held near its highest ?levels of the past week and the yen slipped for a second day at the start of Asian ?trading on Friday as renewed fears of energy supply disruptions in the Middle East pushed up bond yields and oil prices. The U.S. dollar index , which measures the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, was trading at 99.081, holding steady after gaining 0.3% on Thursday to reach its highest ?level since September 7. The rise followed the release of data showing U.S. producer prices increased 0.4% in August, meeting ?market expectations as energy prices rebounded during the month. Against the yen , ?the U.S. dollar was as much as 0.1% firmer at 154.615 yen, while the euro strengthened by a similar magnitude to ?as much as 179.49 yen after the European Central Bank hiked interest ratesOil prices rose on ?Friday and both major benchmarks are on track to end the week above $100 a barrel for the ?first time since mid-May, as increasing attacks along key shipping routes in the Middle East fuel fears of a prolonged disruption to supplies. Brent crude futures rose 81 cents, or 0.8%, to $108.44 a barrel by 0345 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude rose 69 cents, or 0.7%, to $103.17 a barrel. ?Both benchmarks rose more than 6% on Thursday. on Thursday for the second time this year. The Australian dollar was flat at $0.7160, while its kiwi counterpart was up 0.1% at $0.5805. Both the euro and the British pound were level against the dollar at $1.1613 and $1.3510, respectively.......
More