Rupee hits three-week high In India

The Indian rupee on Friday opened flat but soon strengthened to hit a three-week high against the US dollar as expectation of foreign inflows, after Bharti Airtel Ltd looks to raise $1 billion via foreign currency convertible bonds, lifted sentiment.Traders await details of phase-one trade deal between the US and China, which is expected to be signed next week. Markets also eye the domestic Index of Industrial Production data for November and US jobs report, due later on Friday.

In early deals, the rupee traded at 71.15 a dollar, up 0.07% from Thursday's close of 71.22. The Indian unit had opened at 71.20 and touched a high of 71.13 -- a level last seen on 23 December. This was the fourth consecutive session when the currency is trading higherYear to date, the rupee has strengthened 0.3%, while foreign investors have bought nearly $381.80 million in Indian equities and sold $844.50 million in debt.

Government bond yields gained as the Reserve Bank of India did not announce any open market operations as expected by the market. The yield on the 10-year government bond was at 6.589% compared with its previous close of 6.531%. The benchmark Sensex was up 128 points at 41580.55 points. Year to date, the index has gained 0.48%.Asian currencies were trading higher. Indonesian rupiah was up 0.33%, Malaysian ringgit 0.18%, Thai Baht 0.08%, Singapore dollar 0.06%. South Korean won was down 0.3%, Philippines peso 0.11%.