The rupee opened marginally weaker despite a downgrade as optimism about global economic recovery, coupled with anticipation of foreign inflows, may overshadow India's credit rating downgrade by Moody's Investors Services to Baa3.The downgrade reflects the view that India's institutions will be challenged to implement policies to effectively mitigate the risks of a sustained period of relatively low growth, deterioration in general government debt and stress in the financial sector, as reported by Moody's. Asian indices rose early today, tracking overnight gains in US equities, as the escalation in tensions between the US and China were outweighed by hope that easing of COVID-19-led restrictions across nations would pave the way for an economic recovery. During the day, investors are likely to keep an eye on the developments on recent tensions between the US and China. China's major state-run agricultural companies were asked by government officials to halt purchases of some US farm goods such as soybean and pork. This comes after US President Donald Trump's recent announcement that he would take action to eliminate Hong Kong's special treatment, following China's approval of a controversial new national security bill for the city.An improvement in US manufacturing data for May also strengthened hope among investors.On the data front, the Institute of Supply Management indicated that manufacturing index for May was at 43.1 against an 11-year low of 41.5 in April. Although a reading below 50.0 suggests a decrease in manufacturing activity, investors took heart from a reduction in the pace of deterioration.