USD/INR: Rupee Gains alongside Chinese Yuan

The US dollar is lower against the Indian rupee on Monday morning with emerging market currencies, led by the Chinese yuan mostly higher against the greenback. At the same time a pullback from last week’s jobs-induced gains saw the dollar mostly lower across FX markets.

USD/INR was lower by 14 pips (-0.20%) to 71.358 with a daily range of 71.27 to 71.49 as of 10am GMT. The currency pair fell from is daily high at 71.49 before stabilising near 71.3. The small losses on Monday leave the exchange rate basically flat over the last six days following a -0.06% contraction last week.

USD/INR: Rupee benefits from more optimistic tone

The rupee is broadly benefitting from the more optimistic tone in markets about the coronavirus outbreak in China, but strength in the dollar means gains have been limited in the USD/INR exchange rate. The coronavirus has also been a double-edged sword for India, which is a big net importer of oil. The prospect of lower fuel demand has seen oil prices tank over 15% in the past three weeks, lowering the price Indians need to pay for transport and heating.

The lack of direction can also be attributed to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) which opted to keep Indian interest rates on hold last week. The central bank was also less cautious about the growth outlook for India than some might have expected given the outlook for India at other institutions. Lowered global growth estimates from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for 2020 were almost entirely attributable to a bigger than expected downgrade to its expectation for India.

Dollar lower in other Asian currencies

The yuan gains, which translated to a lower dollar and gains in some other Asian currencies came thanks to the beginning of a new lending program initiated by the People’s Bank of China as well as Chinese inflation coming in higher than expected at 5.4% year-over-year.

Broader market conditions are perhaps slightly less inducive to dollar strength since haven flows resulting from the coronavirus outbreak are slowing. Workers at the Foxconn factory in Zhengzhou  returning to work is a positive development for the economic effects of the coronavirus outbreak.

Currencylive.com is a news site only and not a currency trading platform.

Currencylive.com is a site operated by TransferWise Inc. (“We”, “Us”), a Delaware Corporation. We do not guarantee that the website will operate in an uninterrupted or error-free manner or is free of viruses or other harmful components. The content on our site is provided for general information only and is not intended as an exhaustive treatment of its subject. We expressly disclaim any contractual or fiduciary relationship with you on the basis of the content of our site, any you may not rely thereon for any purpose. You should consult with qualified professionals or specialists before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Although we make reasonable efforts to update the information on our site, we make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on our site is accurate, complete or up to date, and DISCLAIM ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Some of the content posted on this site has been commissioned by Us, but is the work of independent contractors. These contractors are not employees, workers, agents or partners of TransferWise and they do not hold themselves out as one. The information and content posted by these independent contractors have not been verified or approved by Us. The views expressed by these independent contractors on currencylive.com do not represent our views.