- Indian Rupee (INR) looks towards weekly gains
- Daily covid cases hit new record over 217,000
- US Dollar (USD) trades lower across the board
- US consumer confidence rises by less than expected
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange is slipping lower for a third straight session on Friday. The pair settled 0.44% lower on Thursday at 74.72. At 15:30 UTC, USD/INR trades -0.3% at 74.48. The pair is set to lose 0.3% across the week, after three consecutive winning weeks.
The Rupee is edging higher despite the deteriorating covid situation in the country. The number of new daily covid cases continued to surge to fresh record levels on Friday recording 217,353 new cases.
Local authorities have restricted movement in cities such as Mumbai and New Delhi in an attempt to stem the spread. Concerns are growing over the impact that the restrictions will have on economic growth.
The Reserve Bank of India reported that foreign exchanged reserve continued to decline in the week ending April 2. Reserves fell by $2.415 billion to stand at $576.869 billion. The previous week reserves had declined by $2.986 billion.
The US Dollar is trading lower across the board. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies trades -0.18% at the time of writing at 91.52 as it trades at a 4 week low.
The US Dollar is extending losses despite impressive following disappointing US consumer confidence data. The Michigan consumer sentiment index rose in April to 86.5, up from 84.9 in March. However, this fell short of the 89.6 than analysts were forecasting.
Analysts had been expecting a more upbeat reading in wake of the strong jobs market numbers and impressive retail sales data on Thursday.
US retail sales jumped 9.8% month on month in March, well ahead of the 5.6% forecast as Americans hit the shops in droves after receiving stimulus checks from the government.
Jobless claims data was also better than expected as initial claims fell by 200,000 to 576,000, the lowest level since the start of the pandemic.
