This Friday, currencies are trading lower. While the South African rand has weakened in morning trading, the ruble is continuing a recent weakening trend and the Indian rupee is expected to open lower against the US currency.

The South African rand weakened in morning trading on Friday. It traded at 18.2350 against the dollar at 06:44 GMT, 0.3% higher than its previous close. After Thursday's data, the Dollar Index was last with a rise of 0.13% to 103.93, showing that weekly unemployment claims in the United States fell unexpectedly and monthly producer prices rose the most in seven months in January.

For its part, the Russian ruble exceeded 75 per dollar on Friday, continuing a recent weakening trend: the ruble was 0.4% weaker against the dollar at 75.15 at 7:06am GMT, falling to 75.2525 earlier in the session, its the weakest mark since April 25. It had lost 0.1% to trade at 79.99 against the euro and lost 0.3% against the yuan at 10.90.

As for the Indian rupee, it is expected to open lower against the US currency on Friday. The rupee will open at 82.80-82.85 per dollar, compared to 82,7175 in the previous session according to undelivable futures. For a trader at a Mumbai-based bank, the rupee is expected to fall less than its Asian counterparts, given past price action and levels of 82.90-83.