numbers-and-inr-currency-symbol - INR
  • Indian Rupee and India stock markets lift on hopes of economic revival
  • Government will allow Indian domestic flights from next week
  • 4 million US jobless claims expected
  • At 11:15 UTC, USD/INR flat at 75.55 after 3 sessions of gains >> Real time exchange rate

The Rupee has strengthened against the green back across the past three sessions and continues to show resilience versus the greenback on Thursday. The Indian Rupee settled on Wednesday +0.12% at 75.55.

At 11:15 UTC, USD/INR is trading flat at 75.55. This is approximately mid-way between the daily traded range of 75.39 – 75.82. The Pair started the week at 75.70 and is on track for a weekly decline of 0.37%, paring the previous week’s 0.38% gain.

The Indian Rupee has strengthened across this week amid growing optimism surrounding an economic revival as India very gradually eases out of lockdown. Optimism has also boosted the Indian stock markets with the Sensex climbing 0.4% and the Nifty 50 also advancing by a similar amount.

In the latest sign of easing restrictions, the government has announced tht domestic flights can resume next week. This will be exactly 2 months after the government grounded all planes.

The move by the government comes after the government extended lockdown in some parts of the country until 31st May and as the rate of coronavirus infection increases at the fastest pace in Asia.

In the county of 1.3 billion inhabitants 112,028 people have coronavirus and 3,434 deaths have been recorded.

The US Dollar regained buying interest on Thursday and is trading broadly higher versus its major peers, reversing three straight days of declines, amid rising US – Chinese tensions.

Investors will now turn their attention to a packed economic calendar, with the release of US initial jobless claims and PMI data.

Analysts are forecasting an additional 2.4 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the week ending 15th May. This would be the lowest increase in initial jobless claims since the coronavirus crisis started around 2 months ago.

This figure would take the total number of Americans filing for initial claims to 39 million, just shy of 24% of the US workforce.

As US states start to ease lockdown measures and reopen its economies, investors will start turning their attention to continuing jobless claims. As the number of people being rehired increases, the number of continuing jobless claims will start falling. That is not expected this week, with continuing claims still on the rise.