New Delhi: India’s rupee led losses in Asia in November as outflows from local bonds and equities climbed amid increased prospects of a rise in US interest rates this year.

Investor sentiment soured as Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party lost an election in the key state of Bihar, which makes it harder for his government to push through financial reforms to boost the economy. Foreign holdings of rupee-denominated debt fell 38.5 billion rupees ($576 million, Dh2.1 billion) this month, the most since May, data from the National Securities Depository Ltd show. Stocks have seen withdrawals of $793.4 million.

The rupee declined 2.3 per cent in November to 66.7850 a dollar as of 11:16 am in Mumbai, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. The currency, which was steady on Monday, fell to as low as 66.8850 on Friday, the weakest level since September 2013.

“The defeat in the Bihar state elections was seen as a setback by foreign investors, whose reaction was to reduce their exposure to Indian assets,” said Khoon Goh, a senior foreign-exchange strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. in Singapore. “The stronger dollar environment on expectations of Federal Reserve rate hikes also led to the weakening in the rupee.”

Futures contracts indicate there is a 74 per cent chance the US central bank will act at its December 15-16 meeting, a move that will reduce the allure of emerging-market assets. The odds were at about 50 per cent at the end of October.

Indian sovereign bonds headed for a second straight month of losses, with the yield on the securities due May 2025 rising 14 basis points from October 30 and one basis point on Monday to 7.78 per cent, according to prices from the central bank’s trading system. Its 24-basis point jump since the end of September is the biggest two-month rise for a benchmark 10-year security in two years.

A Bloomberg survey of economists suggests the Reserve Bank of India will hold its repurchase rate at 6.75 per cent at a policy meeting on Tuesday, after cutting it by 125 basis points this year, including a larger-than-estimated 50-basis point reduction on September 29. A report due after the close of markets on Monday will probably show the economy grew 7.3 percent last quarter, according to a separate Bloomberg survey.