indian-rupee-bank-notes - INR
  • Indian Rupee (INR) treads water after three consecutive days of losses
  • Sensex rallies on M&D deal
  • US Dollar (USD)eases versus major peers as stimulus talks continue
  • US services & manufacturing PMI data in focus

The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is trading flat on Friday after 3 straight days of gains. The pair settled +0.1% higher on Thursday at 73.66. At 12:15 UTC, USD/INR trades flat at 73.66. The pair is on track to gain +0.3% across the week, its second straight week of gains.

Action on the Indian stock markets has boosted the Sensex on the last day of the trading week. The Sensex closed 0.4% higher after Walmart’s Flipkart announced hat it will buy a 7.7% stake in Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail for $204 million. The deal will give the e-commerce firm a bigger footprint in the high margin fashion business. Shares in Aditya Birla soared 6.5% hitting a 6-month high.

Meanwhile, India reported 54,366 new daily covid cases over the past 24 hours, taking the total number to 7.8 million.  The number of new daily infections has fallen from previous highs of over 70,000 per day. However, with elections looming fears are rising that political rallies could create another spike in cases.

Oil prises are on the rise which is keeping the Rupee under pressure. Oil roe further above $42 a barrel as demand concerns raised by rising covid cases in the US and Europe were offset by the prospect of an extension to OPEC production cuts. Comments by Russian President Vladmir Putin that Moscow wasn’t ruling out extending OPEC+ oil production cuts offered support to oil. West Texas Intermediate +0.4% to $40.79 whilst Brent +0.5% to $42.66, adding to gains of 1.7% on Thursday.

The US Dollar is trending lower versus its major peers as sentiment rises. Investors are following US fiscal stimulus developments closely, whilst progress is slow, the two sides are still talking which is being interpreted as good news.

Attention will now turn to US PMI data for both the service nd manufacturing sector which are expected to remain steady.