- Indian Rupee (INR) pares some of last week’s gains
- Indian Medical Association calls for national lockdown
- US Dollar (USD) remains under pressure versus majors after weak NFP
- No high impacting data due today
The US Dollar Indian Rupee (USD/INR) exchange rate is heading higher on Monday after steep losses over the previous week. The pair lost 1% across the previous week closing on Friday at 73.25. At 11:30 UTC, USD/INR trades +0.1% higher at 73.32.
The US Dollar is trading higher versus the Rupee but is lower versus its major peers. The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback versus a basket of major currencies trades -0.1% at the time of writing at 90.16 extending losses from last week and hitting a three-month low.
The US Dollar is on the back foot following last week’s disappointing non-farm payroll report. The data showed that 266,000 jobs were created in the US in April. That was well short of the almost 1 million that analysts in Wall Street had expected.
The shockingly weak data has validated the US Federal Reserve’s dovish stance and dragged the US Dollar lower.
There is no high impacting US data due today. Investors will look ahead to Wednesday’s inflation figures to further gauge the Fed’s next steps.
The Rupee trades under pressure as pressure mounts on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impose a nationwide lockdown amid the ongoing covid crisis.
The number of covid cases fell slightly from last week’s over 400,000 to 366,161 new daily infections on Monday. This takes the total to 22.66 million.
The health system is teetering on the brink of collapse amid oxygen shortages & bed shortages.
Whilst parts of India have implemented localized lockdown and or restrictions on movement ands opening times of shops, malls and restaurants, calls are growing from the Indian Medical Association for a nationalized approach similar to that in March last year. However, the economic impact of such a measure would derail India’s economic recovery.
So far investment banks and rating agencies haven’t shaved that much GDP expectations but that could change going forwards.
